Pozzuoli – Another afternoon of tension and violence in Naples' hospitals. Early this afternoon, the head of the Complex Surgery Unit at Santa Maria delle Grazie Hospital in Pozzuoli was the victim of a brutal physical attack by the family of a patient who had died shortly before from causes still under investigation.
The dynamics of the facts
According to the association Nessuno Tocchi Ippocrate, the raid took place around lunchtime. A group of relatives of the recently deceased man broke into the ward and attacked the surgeon. The doctor was punched repeatedly, while moments of panic broke out among the medical staff and patients inside the facility.
Rescue and investigations
Immediately after the incident, the head physician was taken to the emergency room of the same Pozzuoli hospital to receive the necessary treatment and to have his injuries assessed. At the same time, a formal complaint was filed. Law enforcement officers, having arrived on the scene, have begun an investigation and are gathering witness statements to formally identify the perpetrators and reconstruct the exact circumstances of the assault.
The emergency in 2026: the numbers of violence
Today's incident is not an isolated case, but rather part of a wave of violence that has engulfed the Campania healthcare system at the start of this year. Today's incident is the fifth assault recorded in the ASL Napoli 2 area since the beginning of 2026.
The overall figure becomes even more alarming when considering the metropolitan area: between the Naples Local Health Authority (ASL) 1 and Naples Local Health Authority (ASL) 2, the total number of incidents of violence against healthcare workers has risen to eight in less than two months. This escalation has rekindled the debate over safety at border hospitals.
Reading the news it seems strange to me, the doctors work 24 hours without a break, and then the relatives explode, the hospital does not protect, security does not work, it seems that no one reported has monitored, those responsible should be sought and identified immediately.