Violence against physician in Antep: 'Enough is enough'

* Photo: Evrensel

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A man inflicted violence on a healthcare worker in the İslahiye Public Hospital in Turkey's southeastern province of Antep. Hit in the head with a heavy object, the worker had a concussion.

'No mechanisms of protection'

Speaking about the incident, Gaziantep-Kilis Medical Chamber Chair Ayşegül Ateş Tarla has said, "At the İslahiye District Public Hospital of our province, a fellow internist was battered by being hit in the head with a heavy object today."

Announcing that the physician had a concussion and was given the necessary medical treatment by other healthcare workers, Ateş Tarla has said:

"While we hear at least one news about violence in healthcare everyday, how much longer will the Health Ministry be a mere onlooker to this situation? When will the Health Ministry take action to prevent violence in healthcare?"

Noting that healthcare workers are forced to work in difficult conditions, Ateş Tarla has briefly added the following:

"Forced to work under heavy workload, unsafe working conditions and poor economic conditions, healthcare workers have been made unworkable now. Having lost their motivation and hopes, healthcare workers resort to resignation or going abroad as a solution. Violence in healthcare is a structural problem and entails a holistic approach.

We call on all authorities, especially the government and the Health Ministry, to halt the transformation in the healthcare program along with a legislative proposal. We expect the government and Health Ministry officials to pay heed to all our recommendations which can give results only if they are implemented together.

'Enough is enough'

Further in her speech, Ateş Tarla has recalled that they, as the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and Medical Chambers, have been demanding since 2007 that violence in healthcare be prevented and the working conditions in medical institutions be made safe and healthy.

"Enough is enough," she has said, extending her get-well-soon wishes to the battered physician and calling on the authorities to draw up an urgent action plan: "We declare it to the public that we will follow up this issue." (MS/EMK/SD)