Syracuse, oncology patient books a colonoscopy for October 2025 and receives the exam after Christmas 2026

Over a year of waiting. To be precise, 454 days, or 14 months and 28 days. This is how long a cancer patient from Syracuse would have had to wait for a colonoscopy, with availability for the exam at the Umberto I hospital only a few days after Christmas 2026, following a request dated October 2, 2025. The son-in-law: "We can't wait that long, we will pay for it."

The fact was reported by Carlo Gilistro, the pediatrician deputy of the M5S who will present a request for access to documents to the Syracuse ASP in the coming days to understand the actual waiting times for all healthcare services.

"One cannot ask – says Gilistro – a cancer patient to wait almost an eternity for an exam, because 14 months is an eternity when the sword of Damocles of possible recurrences or metastases hangs over your head. It is true that the system cannot know that the request comes from a cancer patient, but it is also true that it is out of this world to force a patient, cancerous or not, to wait over a year for an exam that is certainly not done on a whim but because there is surely serious symptomatology behind it."

"The patient's son-in-law – continues Gilistro – told us that the relative will have the exam done privately, the solution that a large part of patients now chooses and that somehow helps keep a system afloat that would collapse if everyone queued up to wait without resorting, by paying, to private services. We would have waiting times of two or three years, with all the negative consequences that this would entail."

"We are tired – adds the regional coordinator of the Movement, Nuccio Di Paola – of the talk and promises of the Schifani government that have so far proven to be completely off the mark. Schifani announced in January 2024 during a press conference that the waiting lists had been practically eliminated, only to practically contradict himself later, saying he would send home the managers who did not reduce them. The subsequent measures do not seem to be having particular success. Today the lists, and the facts prove it, are still alive and well, while the general directors are still in their positions.”

On waiting lists, the M5S does not intend to make concessions. "The real turning point – say Gilistro and Di Paola – could be the application of a national law from almost 30 years ago, practically unknown to everyone and completely disregarded, which would allow citizens, when the public service is unable to guarantee the timing indicated in the prescription, to have free visits and exams in the public sector, in an intramural setting, or in the private sector, paying only the ticket, and not even that, if the applicant is exempt. Everything would be the responsibility of the Region, which should reimburse citizens for any amounts advanced."

"To enforce this 1998 law – concludes Di Paola – we have submitted a motion that has not even been scheduled. Evidently, there are far more important matters to address, such as the third term for mayors. We have also proposed provisions in the budget that have been rejected. Meanwhile, citizens are waiting or are forced to turn to the private sector, at a cost. Or, worse, they give up on getting treatment. And unfortunately, the latter are increasingly numerous. Nevertheless, we will not back down and will return to the charge, once again requesting the scheduling of the motion."