Rising attacks on Italian medical staff fuel a call for army intervention

Italy’s healthcare system, renowned for its high-quality services, is facing a new crisis – an alarming wave of violence against medical staff.

With over 16,000 reported cases of physical and verbal assaults in 2023 alone, doctors and nurses are raising the alarm and calling for drastic measures, including deploying the army to protect hospital workers.

Attacks in Policlinico hospital, Foggia, Puglia

The situation reached a tipping point at the Policlinico hospital in Foggia, Puglia, where a tragic incident on a Friday escalated into chaos. After the death of a 23-year-old woman during emergency surgery, approximately 50 of her family members and friends turned their frustration and grief into violence, attacking hospital staff. Video footage, widely circulated on social media, shows doctors and nurses barricading themselves in a room to escape the onslaught. Some workers sustained injuries, and bloodstains littered the emergency room floor.

In the days following, more attacks unfolded in southern Italy. At the same hospital, a patient assaulted three emergency room nurses, and in nearby Lecce, a doctor was attacked. In the Naples province, patients and families grew violent when asked to wait, while a hospital volunteer in Palermo was punched in a similar situation.

The president of the Nursing Up union, Antonio De Palma, expressed disbelief at the surge in brutality: “We have never seen such levels of aggression in the past decade,” he stated, emphasising the urgent need for action. “We are now at a point where considering military protection in hospitals is no longer a far-fetched idea. We cannot wait any longer.”

A call for help in Italy’s hospitals

Healthcare unions and associations across Italy are sounding the alarm. The National Federation of Orders for Nursing Professions (Fnopi) has denounced the attacks as “criminal actions” and urged authorities to ensure a safer working environment for healthcare staff. The Italian Federation of Medical-Scientific Societies (Fism) has proposed more severe consequences for offenders, such as suspending access to free medical care for three years for anyone who assaults healthcare workers or damages hospital facilities.

The reasons behind these attacks are complex but can be traced to a few key factors: an understaffed healthcare system, long wait times, and the frustration felt by patients and their families. According to ANAAO, Italy’s largest union for doctors, nearly half of emergency medicine positions remained unfilled as of 2022. Compounding the problem is Italy’s salary cap legislation, which has kept wages low and led to overworked and overwhelmed medical staff. The strain has worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic, with many healthcare workers choosing to leave Italy in search of better opportunities abroad.

The consequences of this staffing crisis are dire. Italy is short approximately 30,000 doctors, and between 2010 and 2020, the country saw the closure of 111 hospitals and 113 emergency rooms. The burden on remaining staff is immense, with many doctors and nurses working under intense pressure and risking their own safety as tensions in hospitals run high.

Giuseppe Pasqualone, the director of the Foggia hospital where the violent incident took place, warned that the situation is unsustainable. “If we continue down this path, there’s a real risk of having to shut down the emergency department,” he said. The consequences of such a closure would ripple across other hospital departments, further exacerbating Italy’s healthcare challenges. “We ask for patience from our patients and their families. Our doctors and nurses are already working under immense stress due to the nationwide shortage of medical professionals. Add fear for their own safety, and we may see an exodus of even more healthcare workers.”

As Italy grapples with these challenges, the government has yet to propose concrete solutions. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration has outlined plans for further healthcare cuts, leaving many in the medical profession wondering how much longer they can endure these conditions.

For the expatriate community living in Italy or the wider EU, this situation is a stark reminder of the delicate balance between quality healthcare and the sustainability of the system that delivers it.

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