Foggia hospital threatens ER closure over staff attacks

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 10 - The director of Foggia's Policlinico Riuniti hospital on Tuesday threatened to close its emergency room after a spate of attacks on health personnel continued with three assaults in less than a week.
    The attacks include a near riot last Wednesday when health personnel were punched and injured by a mob led by relatives of a 23-year-old woman from the nearby town of Cerignola who died during surgery after being involved in a car accident some weeks before.
    "'If we continue like this we will end up closing the emergency department because we we won't have any doctors, nurses or health workers left," Director Giuseppe Pasqualone told a press conference.
    "My appeal is that the staff on duty are respected because they are good, and the national level data shows it.
    "Foggia polyclinic is among the best hospitals in Italy.
    "We are working in difficult conditions in the emergency room, the staff level has been halved.
    "Citizens who arrive in non-serious conditions have to wait, they have to be patient".
    The events in Foggia are part of a series of acts of violence on health professionals in Italy, which has led to the national guild of doctors to call for the army to be drafted in to ensure the safety of hospital staff. (ANSA).