Army Intervention to Protect Medical Staff in Southern Italy

Army Deployment for Medical Staff Protection

The Italian army will start guarding medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region beginning Monday after a string of violent attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy. Prefect Paolo Giovanni Grieco approved a plan to reinforce the surveillance services already operated by soldiers on sensitive targets in the Calabrian town of Vibo Valentia.

Rising Violence in Southern Italy

• Recent attacks on health workers have been particularly frequent in southern Italy.
• The doctors’ national guild has called for military protection due to escalating violence.
• A notable incident involved an assault at the Policlinico hospital in Foggia, where about 50 individuals attacked medical staff.

Video footage of the incident showed doctors and nurses barricading in a room to escape the violence, with some staff sustaining injuries.

1. The hospital director threatened to close the emergency room.
2. Healthcare workers reported over 16,000 assaults in 2023 alone.
3. Staff emphasized that they have never seen such aggression levels in the past decade.

Understaffing and long waiting lists contribute to frustration among patients. Italy's largest doctor union states that nearly half of emergency medicine positions were unfilled as of 2022, leading to overworked staff and rising tensions. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation as many healthcare professionals seek better opportunities abroad, with Italy having a shortage of around 30,000 doctors in 2023.