‘At this rate, Turkey’s COVID-19 death toll may hit 20 thousand,’ warns union

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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The Health and Social Service Laborers Union (SES) Ankara Branch has released a written statement regarding the latest situation in Turkey amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Referring to the statements of Health Minister Fahretttin Koca, the union has briefly highlighted the following points:

"With his statements, the Health Minister has shown that their aim is not to prevent cases and deaths, but to conceal them.

'The Minister should fulfil his duty'

"We condemn the statements of the Health Minister where he complains about the pandemic like any other ordinary citizen and does not stress anything other than physical distance, mask and hygiene. We want him to fulfil his duty. We would like to once again underline that the administrators are accountable for the current situation.

"In 2017, 425,781 deaths occurred in Turkey; while 10,145 of these were due to infectious diseases, 49,855 were due to respiratory tract diseases.

"In 2018, 426,449 deaths occurred; while 10,853 of these deaths were due to infectious diseases, 52,223 were due to respiratory tract diseases.

"In 2019, 435,541 deaths occurred; while 12,095 of these deaths were due to infectious diseases, 56,391 were due to respiratory tract diseases.

'Cases will increase in autumn'

"Minister of Health announced that the mortality rate increases by 2 percent in our country in a year. This increase was 0.2 percent in 2017-2018. He referred to the increase in the last year in an attempt to conceal the increase to be observed in the 2019-2020 period.

"According to the statements of the Minister, the number of deaths expected to occur in 2020 is 444 thousand when compared to the figures in 2019. In other words, any figure higher than this will reveal the deaths caused by COVID-19. These statements disclose the truth that the number of COVID-19 deaths will be around 20 thousand.

"It is also obvious that the process will bring about chaos with autumn. The respiratory tract diseases (whose annual death toll is above 50 thousand, which accounts for 12 percent of all deaths) will play a role in increasing the number of deaths, together with the COVID-19 outbreak.

'Don't seize health workers' rights'

"Even in our city, approximately 2 thousand health workers are assigned to work in places that are really far away from their work environments and houses. With these assignments, health workers' all rights are seized and flexible and precarious work is normalized.

"The Ministry of Helath is leaving laborers under an extremely heavy burden on the one side and seizing heir social and economic rights, their well-deserved payments, on the other.

"We would like to once again remind the authorities that their duty is to protect public health, provide social service laborers with safe work environments and prevent cases and deaths, rather than concealing or announcing them." (RT/SD)