Health alarm, the doctor attacked: “I’m leaving the medical profession” – Friuli VG

“I’ve been thinking about it for some time. I’m leaving the medical profession. This episode was an opportunity to decide to do something else”. The intern said so Adelaide Andriani, 28 years old, attacked in Udine while she was on duty as a medical guard, speaking with the deputy governor of the Fvg, Riccardo Riccardi. Riccardi himself reported it at the end of a meeting with Andriani and his colleague Giada Aveni, who intervened in defense of her colleague. The deputy governor specified that “first of all, the two doctors are fine. They talked to us about what happened and how they lived this bad experience”.

“The Minister of Health, Horace Schillaci, will promote an initiative with the Government for the issuing of a specific directive by the Ministry of the Interior to all the Prefectures, to proceed in certain and rapid times with the signing of the operational protocols with the healthcare companies to guarantee rapid intervention by the police in the event of attacks”. This was stated by the president of the Federation of Healthcare and Hospitals (Fiaso), Giovanni Migliore, who met Minister Schillaci today for a discussion on the issue of aggression in the ward.

Provide for the presence of the Army and the Police Forces first of all in the hospitals at greatest risk because they are in more disadvantaged areas, and start an experimentation to be eventually extended to the whole national territory. But not only: stop night shifts in medical guards if you work alone, providing agreements with the 118 system for night assistance. This is the proposal of the president of the federation of doctors’ orders (Fnomceo) Filippo Anelli: “This – he stated to ANSA – could represent an effective model to counter the phenomenon of attacks against doctors and health care workers”.

Aggressions in the ward are “a growing and increasingly unbearable phenomenon, which must be stemmed by sending the police, possibly even the army, to hospital facilities to guarantee public order”. This is requested by the Cimo-Fesmed Federation of Doctors’ Union which is proposing the “Safe Hospitals” operation to protect health personnel from violence.

The attacks that take place in hospitals throughout Italy against doctors, nurses and health workers, explains Guido Quici, president of the Cimo Fesmed Federation, “are now the order of the day”. “Militarising healthcare facilities may appear to be an exaggerated measure, but we are faced with an emergency that requires extraordinary intervention. We therefore propose the launch of a ‘Safe Hospitals’ operation, in the wake of ‘Safe Roads’, to protect health personnel and discourage violent actions”. Given “the serious crisis affecting the National Health Service, with endless waiting lists, crowded emergency rooms, shortage of beds and personnel and limited territorial assistance, the situation – concludes Quici – can only get worse. Therefore the exasperation and anger of patients will only increase, together with the risk of an increase in violent actions”.

The Army Replica. “We are executors of orders and we are ready to face any eventuality, but is it really necessary for the Army to take care of these tasks? Also because we would divert men from other assignments”. Thus Cocer of the Army, with the delegate Gennaro Galantuomo, regarding the request of some doctors’ unions to have soldiers in hospitals. “Italy – he underlines – is a country used to dealing with emergencies with the Army. We are executors of orders, but the important thing is that specific deliveries are given, otherwise it would be embarrassing to carry out functions that the police force usually performs” .