An Italian village forbids residents from getting sick

A small Italian village forbade its residents to get seriously ill.

People living in Belcastro are “… ordered to avoid contracting any disease that may require emergency medical care,” according to a decree by local mayor Antonio Torchia.

Belcastro is located in the southern region of Calabria – one of the poorest in Italy.

Torchio said the move was “obviously a humorous provocation” but it had a greater effect than the urgent messages he sent to regional authorities to highlight the shortcomings of the local health system.

About half of Belcastro’s 1,200 residents are over 65, and the nearest emergency department (H&E) is more than 45km (28 miles) away, the mayor said.

He added that the ambulance can only be reached by road with a speed limit of 30 km/h (18 mph).

The village on-call medical clinic is also open occasionally and does not provide insurance on weekends, holidays or after hours.

Torchio told Italian television that it was difficult “to feel safe when you know that if you need help, your only hope is to get to an ambulance in time” – and that the roads are almost “more of a risk than any disease”.

As part of the decree, residents are also ordered to “not engage in harmful behavior and avoid accidents in the family” and “not to leave the house too often, not to travel or exercise, but (instead) to rest more part of the time.”

It is unclear how these new rules will be enforced, if at all.

The sparsely populated region of Calabria – the tip of the Italian boot – is one of the poorest in the country.

Political mismanagement and mafia interference have destroyed the health care system, which was placed under special management by the central government almost 15 years ago.

Rome-appointed commissioners have struggled to tackle the huge debt burden facing hospitals, which means Calabrians are left crippled by severe shortages of medical staff and beds and endless waiting lists.

Since 2009, 18 hospitals have closed in the region.

As a result, almost half of Calabria’s nearly two million population seeks medical care outside the region.

In 2022, it was announced that Cuba would send 497 doctors to the Italian region for three years to work in various medical facilities. The regional governor, Roberto Occiuto, said last year that these doctors “saved” Calabria’s hospitals.

Residents of Belcastro told local media that Mayor Torchio “did the right thing by bringing this issue to light” and that the decision “shocks the conscience”.

“He used a provocative decree to draw attention to a serious problem,” one of the men said.