The Lower House on Wednesday gave
final approval with 144 votes in favour and 92 abstentions to
measures aimed at cracking down on attacks against medical staff
following a wave of assaults on doctors and other hospital
personnel across Italy.
The new law ups jail time for people attacking medical staff to
a maximum of five years.
It provides for mandatory arrest in flagrante delicto, with the
possibility of deferring arrest for 48 hours, under certain
conditions, for attacking medical staff on the job as well as
damaging property at healthcare facilities.
According to a survey carried out by the National federation of
doctors and dentists guilds (Fnomceo), a reported 2,897 doctors
were attacked in 2023, nearly eight every day.
The survey was based on a questionnaire sent by Fnomceo to its
480,000 members and presented last month by the federation's
president Filippo Anelli to the Senate's justice committee ahead
of the law's approval on Wednesday.
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