Because there is no doctor for miles around: Mayor passes curious law
Belcastro (Italy) - The small community of Belcastro in the south of Italy can no longer find a doctor for its sick inhabitants. As a logical consequence, being ill was simply banned.
According to the Italian newspaper"il Quotidiano del Sud", Mayor Antonio Torchia has introduced a new law prohibiting the residents of his village from falling ill.
One reason for this ban is the lack of doctors in the village. The nearest hospital and therefore the nearest doctor are 45 kilometers away. This means that smooth medical care can no longer be guaranteed.
The mayor therefore ordered people to "avoid any illness that requires medical intervention and to rest as much as possible".
Sick leave ban as a feint by the mayor
As in many other Italian towns, the inhabitants of Belcastro have a high average age. The newspaper writes that the population of Belcastro "consists of around 50 percent older people".
With his new law, however, Antonio Torchia is pursuing a larger plan, because with this curious regulation he wants to draw attention to the big problem of the small town and put the issue of ageing on the agenda in politics and healthcare.
According to Torchia himself, it seems that his new law is already having a better effect than the countless letters he previously wrote to the health authorities.