Italian Mayor Prohibits Residents From Falling Ill to Expose Healthcare Crisis

The unusual decree in Belcastro aims to highlight severe healthcare shortages in Italy's Calabria region.

The mayor of Belcastro, a small town in southern Italy, has issued a decree prohibiting residents from falling ill, framing it as a 'cry for help.'
Belcastro, with a population of around 1,300, suffers from inadequate healthcare access, including a health center that is often closed and no on-call doctors during weekends or holidays.
The nearest emergency room is 45 kilometers away in Catanzaro, creating significant challenges for the town's mostly elderly population.
The decree, while partly ironic, seeks to pressure regional authorities to address long-standing healthcare infrastructure issues exacerbated by years of neglect and hospital closures.
The mayor has stated that without immediate action, small rural towns like Belcastro risk losing their populations entirely within the next decade.