Two structural failures occurred in a single day due to water infiltration, following the simultaneous breakdown of the elevators in stairwell F. For Domani-Motus Liberi, “it’s not just ceilings collapsing — it’s excuses collapsing”: the movement is calling for public technical inspections, an update on the new hospital project, and a vision for the next twenty years.
The condition of the State Hospital has returned to the center of political controversy following a series of closely spaced incidents at the Cailungo facility. According to a statement released by Domani-Motus Liberi, on Monday both elevators in stairwell F went out of service simultaneously, with additional issues reported in the stairwell D lifts, and the following morning the ceiling in the CT scan area collapsed due to a water leak. A similar failure struck the Day Surgery unit, where water infiltration from ongoing renovation work in the Surgery department caused part of the ceiling to give way.
For the opposition movement, these incidents can no longer be dismissed as isolated service disruptions: they are “symptomatic of a progressive deterioration of the building, the result of years of postponed maintenance and a lack of planning that is now coming due.” The statement is careful to distinguish where responsibility lies: no blame falls on hospital staff — quite the opposite. Recognition goes to “the doctors, nurses, technicians and operators who continue, day after day, to provide care and assistance with professionalism despite increasingly difficult structural conditions,” as well as to maintenance personnel, who “understand better than anyone the limitations of a building that requires constant intervention.” The real problem, according to DML, lies further upstream: “a building that has reached the limits of what it can withstand.”
This has prompted a request to the Government, framed as a political ultimatum: to publicly report on the actual condition of the building, disclose the technical inspections that have been carried out, provide an update on the status of the new hospital project, and present “a comprehensive vision for San Marino’s healthcare system over the next twenty to thirty years.” The movement outlines two immediate actions: strengthening maintenance of the current facility right away to ensure safety, and moving forward “decisively” with the plan for a new hospital. “Without a vision,” the movement concludes, “we will keep spending more and more chasing emergencies, instead of building a modern, safe healthcare system that lives up to the expectations of the people of San Marino.”
The accusation comes at a delicate moment for San Marino’s healthcare sector, with newly appointed Secretary of State Massimo Andrea Ugolini only weeks into his role and the issue of waiting lists already on the table following a heated debate in Committee this past July. The condition of the hospital building now looks set to become the first real test of the new administration: the call for public clarification has been formally made, and the Government’s response is now awaited.
