ROME: A doctor, a health worker and two police officers were injured when a man attacked several people with a knife in a hospital in the northern Italian town of Cittadella, reported German news agency (dpa), citing news agency ANSA on Saturday.

One of the police officers was reportedly injured in the face. The suspected attacker was stunned with an electric shock device and detained.

The suspect had been previously spotted carrying a knife in the centre of Cittadella, apparently in a mentally confused state.

Passers-by called the police, but emergency responders only arrived after the man had already entered the hospital and attacked medical workers. He then also attacked the arriving officers.

It comes after a recent violent attack on doctors and carers in a hospital in the southern Italian city of Foggia, when some 50 relatives of a deceased patient stormed the emergency room and attacked medical staff.