An Italian doctor has called for the army to patrol hospital emergency departments after a group of teenagers forced an ambulance to drive to a neighbourhood in Naples to treat a boy with a minor knee sprain.

The three boys entered the Loreto Mare hospital on Sunday and demanded that an ambulance crew accompany them to their friend, who they claimed was in need of urgent treatment.

The incident was highlighted by Hands Off Hippocrates, a Facebook page that chronicles instances of aggression against health workers.

The crew members were taken to an area close to the hospital and when they arrived were greeted with insults by a group of angry bystanders.

“Fearing the worst, the doctors made their way through the crowd and, to their amazement, found a 16-year-old boy with a knee sprain!” a post on the Facebook page read.

According to the post, the medics explained that the injury was minor but were insulted for refusing to take the boy to hospital.

Manuel Ruggiero, the founder and president of Hands Off Hippocrates, told the Italian news agency, Ansa: “Where it is not possible to have police in emergency rooms, army units could be useful in stemming the increasing violence against health staff. It is now an emergency.”

Ciro Verdoliva, the director of the local unit of ASL, the administrative facility of the national health service, said the incident reflected a “point of no return”. He told Ansa that cameras must be installed in ambulances. A similar incident occurred at the same hospital in 2018. “Since then, nothing has changed,” Paolo Monorchio, president of the Red Cross in Naples, said.