MAFIA HOSPITAL CRISIS

ROME: A southern Italian region whose hospitals are riddled with mafia mobsters is to fly in nearly 500 Cuban doctors to fix the problem.

Roberto Occhiuto, Calabria’s governor, revealed the deal with the Cuban government to hire up to 497 doctors to avoid hospital closures. He said he had appealed to Calabrian doctors working outside the region to come home and “lend a hand”, but no one had applied.

The new staff will replace Italian doctors put off by red tape, incompetent managers, corruption and mafia clans that fix contracts to siphon off cash, meaning patients are left on stretchers for days.

Massimo Scura, who managed the region’s healthcare from 2015 to 2018, claimed he hired doctors to Calabria but said none would agree to go to one town, Locri, where the hospital was controlled by the powerful ’Ndrangheta mafia.