In a move to address the alarming rise in violence against healthcare workers, the Italian army will begin guarding medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region starting Monday, The Associated Press reports.
The deployment comes after a string of attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy, prompting widespread concern and calls for action.
The decision to reinforce security at the hospital in Vibo Valentia was approved by Prefect Paolo Giovanni Grieco. Soldiers will join existing security personnel in protecting the facility, which has become a target of escalating violence, echoing similar incidents across the country.
The recent attacks, particularly prevalent in southern Italy, have spurred the doctors’ national guild to demand army deployment to ensure the safety of medical personnel. A particularly harrowing incident occurred at the Policlinico hospital in Foggia in early September, where a group of around 50 relatives and friends of a 23-year-old woman who died during surgery turned their grief into violence, attacking hospital staff.
Video footage of the assault, widely shared on social media, shows doctors and nurses barricading themselves in a room to escape the attack. Several were punched and injured. The hospital’s director threatened to close the emergency room after denouncing three similar attacks in less than a week.
With over 16,000 reported cases of physical and verbal assaults on healthcare workers in Italy in 2023 alone, medical professionals are demanding drastic measures.
The Italian Federation of Medical-Scientific Societies has proposed stricter penalties for offenders, including suspending access to free medical care for three years for anyone who assaults healthcare workers or damages hospital facilities.
Experts attribute the growing violence to a combination of factors, including understaffing, long waiting lists, and frustration with the healthcare system. According to Italy’s largest doctors’ union, nearly half of emergency medicine positions remained unfilled as of 2022. Low wages and an overworked, burnt-out staff have further exacerbated the situation.
The coronavirus pandemic has compounded these issues, driving many healthcare workers to seek better opportunities abroad. In 2023, Italy was short of around 30,000 doctors, and between 2010 and 2020, the country saw the closure of 111 hospitals and 113 emergency rooms.
