Violence against medical staff is going too far in Italy.
In particular, at Polyclinico Liutini Hospital, a public hospital in Posia, in the southeastern state of Pulia, three incidents of violence against medical staff have raised serious concerns in the last six days.
According to the ANSA news agency, hospital director Giuseppe Pasquulone held a press conference on the 10th (local time) and said that if the assault on medical staff continues as it is now, the emergency room will be forced to close.
“The medical staff in the emergency room are working under poor conditions. The manpower has also been halved,” he said. “Citizens who arrive in the emergency room in a non-serious condition should wait and be patient.”Last week, relatives and friends of a young woman who died during surgery massively assaulted doctors and nurses at the hospital.Videos of some of the fleeing hospital staff locking the door and stacking sofas and drawers to block the door spread through social media and broadcast media, signaling the seriousness of the situation.On the 8th, an 18-year-old patient beat three emergency room nurses, and the previous day, the patient’s son beat the nurses and guards.According to the daily La Repubblica, a survey in the Posia region found that 42% of healthcare workers had been assaulted while on duty. As terrified medical staff leave the area, there is a shortage of medical personnel, and as a result, patients with longer waiting times can’t hold back their momentary anger and assault medical staff.
“We want a zero tolerance principle for medical beaters,” Barbara Manzacabali, head of the National Federation of Nurses, told the daily newspaper Ilmesajero, “Please use the military to protect us.”
Filippo Anelli, head of the Italian National Federation of Physicians, also agreed on the need to send troops.He also asked Prime Minister Jorja Meloni to use the COVID-19 recovery fund paid by the European Union to improve security at hospitals.The medical union will hold a protest in Forgia on the 16th to protest the series of assaults on medical staff.According to Italy’s Ministry of Health, there were more than 16,000 attacks on medical staff last year.Health Minister Orazio Shilaci called the latest series of attacks on medical staff “shameful.”Vice Minister Marcello Zemmato promised severe punishment.
Sen Ignacio Chullo, a member of the second opposition Five Star Movement (M5S), has proposed a bill to exclude anyone who assaulted medical staff from public hospital treatment for three years.Like other European countries, Italy has faced a crisis of national healthcare due to stressful working conditions, low wages and staffing shortages, Reuters said.JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
