Call for army to protect Italian hospital staff after spate of attacks
Call for army to protect Italian hospital staff after spate of attacks
Patients and relatives turn on doctors and nurses, with 16,000 reports of physical and verbal assaults in 2023 alone
Loreto Gesualdo, the president of the Italian Federation of Medical-Scientific Societies (Fism), has proposed legislation to suspend free access to medical care for three years for those who assault healthcare workers or damage health facilities.
Fism reported more than 16,000 verbal and physical attacks against doctors and nurses in Italian hospitals in 2023 alone.
Using army for public order, why? Soldiers are trained to fight, not ti deal with problematic, probably unarmed people.
Just use the police. There used to be police posts at ERs, they were cut. We don't need a new solution...
Using army for public order, why?
Fascism. Getting people used to it by making it seem necessary.
Italian people are already used to having the army do public order tasks; operation "safe roads" was introduced in 2008 and has been renewed ever since, by every government. This operation is essentially just the use of military personnel for patrol, deterrence and setting checkpoint in Italian cities.
I believe it is important to sooner or later discuss this and to end it, as it has negative effects on the soldiers and also in general on how law enforcement is structured and thought of by governments and politicians. However this is by no means a proposal that for the first time would give military personnel responsibilities for public order nor it has anything to do with fascism.
problematic
Violent attacks, especially with an axe, not sure I'd call them just "problematic"
A soldier is trained to deal with enemies with at least an automatic rifle.
Policemen are instead trained to deal with crazies with axes, knives, rods... etc. and possibly neutrilize them without killing them. They should be able to try a negotiation even. What can a soldier with an automatic rifle already in his hand do? Shoot.
It's easy:
- war, peace keeping -> army
- public order, criminals -> police
The soldiers are basically only for deterrence I guess.
Why do they get attacked though?
Edit: got time to read he article:
Many of the assaults are caused by the shortage of hospital staff and family members’ frustration at the resulting long waiting times for surgery and consultations.
According to the doctors’ union ANAAO, until 2022 almost half of positions in emergency medicine were vacant. Salary-cap legislation over the past two decades to curb public spending has kept salaries low, and work schedules are punishing. For many Italian medical staff, the Covid pandemic was the tipping point, accelerating an exodus abroad. Spending plans published by Giorgia Meloni’s government envisage further healthcare cuts.
In 2023, according to the Forum delle Società Scientifiche dei Clinici Ospedalieri e Universitari Italiani, there was a shortage of approximately 30,000 doctors in Italy. Between 2010 and 2020, 111 hospitals and 113 emergency rooms closed.
Yeah, sounds totally reasonable to put soldiers in hospitals in order to solve these problems. /s smh
The healthcare workers deserve protection from violence even when the root cause is somewhere else. You can provide that security while also moving to fix the shortages. It doesn't have to be one or the another.
I also don't see how the cause would warrant or excuse aggression or assault.
Soldiers/Police protecting staff ensures they can work. assault and lack of protection does the opposite.
Fair point.
I don't know about other European countries' violence against medical staff, but the shortage of skilled healthcare workers is to my knowledge somewhat paneuropean.