Rome, Sep 28 (IANS): The Italian government passed a decree toughening measures against people attacking health staff in hospitals across the country.

The move is meant to address a surge in assaults on doctors, nurses, and other professionals in the public health system. Key countermeasures included allowing for arresting perpetrators on the scene of the crime or up to 48 hours after the attack, reports Xinhua news agency.

Violence against health staff and/or damage to hospital equipment and other assets during an assault will be punishable with a prison sentence of up to 5 years and a fine of up to 100,000 euros (US$111,820).

"This provision has been called for by virtually the whole health staff and, I assume, by citizens as well," Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told a press conference.

In 2023, over 16,000 attacks -- including physical and verbal abuses -- were committed against about 18,000 public health workers, according to the latest data by the Italian Health Ministry.

One serious attack recently targeted health staff at the Foggia Policlinico, who were forced to barricade themselves in a room to escape a group of enraged family members over the death of a 23-year-old woman who had died during surgery. A similar episode involved some 40 relatives of a cancer patient attacking doctors at a hospital in Pescara city.

To denounce the increasing pressure and unsafe working conditions, medical staff in the southern Apulia region staged a protest on September 16.