COVID-19 in Turkey: ‘Surgeries postponed, cancer patients unable to receive treatment’

* Photo: Daily Evrensel

Click to read the article in Turkish

It has been six months since the first novel coronavirus (COVID-19) case was officially confirmed in Turkey on March 11, 2020.

Since then, the pandemic has been raging in the country, with the number of daily cases still around 1,500s. Amid a recent surge in cases, the occupancy rate of hospitals is now also surging.

While the closed public hospitals are gradually reopening in some provinces, the number of beds has been increased in some others.

Against this backdrop, we have spoken with Dr. Bayazıt İlhan, the Spokesperson for the Open My Hospital Platform (HAP), about the recent situation in the country as well as in hospitals amid pandemic.

Underlining that all closed public hospitals need to be reopened, Dr. İlhan has elaborated on why the Open My Hospital Platform was founded and what needs to be done in hospitals:

"In around 10 provinces of Turkey such as the capital Ankara, Bursa, Adana, Manisa, Isparta, Kayseri, Yozgat and Elazığ, based on the bed capacity of the city hospitals that have been opened there, public hospitals with the same bed capacity have been closed.

"As far as we could detect, 30 hospitals have been either closed or their bed capacities have been reduced. As we were aware of the impending danger, we founded the Don't Close My Hospital Platform in 2016.

Problems with bed capacity

"Coming together with labor unions, civil society organizations and professional organizations in Ankara, we have formed a platform with 118 constituents. After the pandemic broke out in Turkey, we transformed into the Open Our Hospitals Platform in April.

"As the outbreak has gained pace in the last one and a half months, there have arisen problems with bed capacity in intensive care units and services. And we have requested that all closed hospitals be opened again.

"One of the hospitals that were closed in Ankara was the Zekai Tahir Burak Training and Research Hospital. Affiliated with another hospital, this hospital was first used to quarantine the citizens coming from China. It is now being used to treat coronavirus patients.

'Non-COVID patients cannot receive treatment'

"The Dış Kapı Children's Hospital was also closed. Affiliated with another hospital, it is also serving as a COVID clinic now.

"We request that all closed hospitals be reopened. We indicated that some of the hospitals that we said should open should treat COVID-19 patients while others should treat non-COVID ones.

"We especially wanted the Ankara Numune and High Specialty Hospitals of Turkey to reopen. These two hospitals have been empty and idle for almost two years. They need to be reincorporated into healthcare services.

'Cases have increased exponentially'

"In August, the Provincial Directorate of Health in Ankara requested that all beds in the intensive care units of public hospitals and half of the beds in other units should be allocated for the COVID-19 patients.

"The number of cases has apparently increased exponentially. As far as we have heard from our colleagues, Ankara Numune and High Specialty Hospitals of Turkey will also reopen in affiliation with another hospital and serve as COVID-19 clinics. But in the time of pandemic, all these only come to mean dressing the wound. These hospitals need to open again at full capacity and with their entire historical identity.

'Corona is not the only problem'

"Today, Turkey's problem with its healthcare system is not only about coronavirus patients. Other patients are also constantly postponing their treatment. In Ankara, surgeries, except for urgent ones, have not been performed for months. They are constantly postponed to an uncertain date.

"If you have money, you can have your surgery in a private hospital. But if you do not, you constantly postpone your health. We say that it is an emergency situation and some of the hospitals to be opened again can be used to treat and operate on non-COVID patients. Patients with diabetes, cancer and cardiac diseases do not go to hospitals due to the outbreak.

'We are in urgent need of closed hospitals'

"We hear that our colleagues encounter patients with advanced cases. As patients avoid seeing a doctor, they apply to them at the last point. The medical checks of diabetic patients are disrupted, so are their blood sugar levels. Patients with liver, kidney and neurological diseases... There is a risk for all of them. So, we are in an urgent need of closed hospitals.

"In the pandemic period, the Başakşehir City Hospital in İstanbul has been partly opened. In August, the Karatay City Hospital in Konya was opened. While these hospitals were opening, others were most probably not closed due to the pandemic. The number of beds was not reduced, so it is possible. Let's right this wrong and open the hospitals as soon as possible.

'Intensive care units are full in several cities'

"As far as we hear from our colleagues, beds in intensive care units are almost full in the provinces where there is a very high incidence of the disease, such as Ankara, Konya, Diyarbakır and Kayseri. We learn that as they cannot accept inpatients in intensive care units due to lack of capacity, they have to refer them to other provinces.

"Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca has recently made a statement about the occupancy rates of intensive care units in places such as Diyarbakır and Ankara. He has said that this rate is around 60 percent.

"I think the Minister has also added the beds in intensive care units of private hospitals to this count. But COVID-19 patients cannot benefit from the intensive care units of private hospitals.

"Unable to use public hospitals, non-COVID patients have to go to private hospitals, which means allocating a budget for private hospitals. Patients have to go to private hospitals if they have money.

"The Chief Physician of Ankara Gazi University Hospital has announced that the beds in intensive care units are 100 percent full. Deans and chief physicians make similar statements in several provinces.

'Number of beds increased in single-person rooms'

"In some provinces, the need for hospital beds has increased to such an extent that single-person rooms have been turned into double rooms. They try to increase the bed capacity. Hospital services such as orthopedics, eye diseases, ear-nose-throat diseases are allocated for COVID-19 patients.

"The closed hospitals need to be reopened and private hospitals have to treat COVID-19 patients free of charge as before. Tests need to be conducted free of charge whoever needs them, especially health personnel." (RT/SD)