The incident occurred in an isolated part of the southern region of Calabria on Saturday as she was driving home at the end of her shift.
Francesca Romeo, 67, worked as an on-call doctor in Santa Cristina in the hilly and forbidding Aspromonte area, once kidnapping bandit country, near Reggio Calabria.
The woman’s husband, 66-year-old Antonio Napoli, also a medic, was injured in the attack.
Early reports suggest two people opened fire at their car near a hairpin bend on the road linking Santa Cristina to Taurianova.
“The news of the ambush and the murder of our colleague Francesca Romeo has left us without words,” said the national assistance continuity director of GPs’ group FIMMG.
“This incident spurs us, yet again, to ask for greater security, also and above all in those areas of the country in which those who deal with health care are forced to work in absolute solitude.”
The CISL union’s health branch also called for greater security for the profession.
“We are asking at the top of our voices that doctors should be able to exercise their profession in greater safety,” said CISL Doctors General Secretary Benedetto Magliozzi.
ANSA
