Colleagues Announce Support for Doctor Made to Apologize After Remarks on Coronavirus

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Physicians have announced support for a physician who was made to apologize for her remarks on the coronavirus outbreak at a training meeting at a hospital in the capital Ankara.

In the video, which Dr. Güle Çınar said was filmed and shared on social media without her consent, she was arguing that the number of coronavirus cases was now over thousands, the ones who returned to Turkey from umrah (an Islamic pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia) changed the course of the outbreak.

CLICK - Physician Made to Apologize After Saying Covid-19 Cases Exceeded Thousands

After reactions to the video, Ankara University Ibni Sina Hospital shared the doctor's letter of apology on social media and stated that it opened an inquiry into the event.

After the university's move, physicians' organizations and students of medicine announced support for Çınar.

"The statements made by our colleague are not insulting and not entirely baseless," the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) said in a written statement today (March 19). "It is known that tests were not performed on all of the nearly 21 thousand people who returned from umrah, that all of them were not quarantined, and that those people have dispersed to various parts of Turkey."

İstanbul Medical Chamber (İTO) released a statement as well, saying, "We stand with our colleague who is working day and night, staying true to the Hippocratic Oath. ıf there are people to apologize, they are those who made this letter written and published it," referring to the letter of apology by the physician.

Sixth-grade students from Ankara University Department of Medicine also announced support for Dr. Çınar, saying, "We are grateful to you for your efforts."

Many social media users, including physicians, announced their support for Dr. Çınar, under the hashtag "We stand with Dr. Güle Çınar" (#DrGüleÇınarınYanındayız).

The TTB said in its statement that forcing a physician to apologize for her remarks at an in-house meeting was "embarrassing" and an attack on personal and employees' rights.

It "strongly condemned" the stance against the physician and demanded the hospital's administrators apologize for offending the physician's honor and the profession.

What did she say?

The video started circulating on social media yesterday evening. It was featuring a group of hospital personnel in a training meeting on coronavirus. While it could not be understood when the video was captured, Dr. Güle Çınar, an infectious diseases specialist, was saying that the first floor of the hospital had been evacuated and the second and fifth floors would also be evacuated soon.

Expressing her wish that "Turkey would not be like Italy", Çınar was arguing that though everything was under control at first, those who returned to Turkey from Umrah in Saudi Arabia "destroyed" everything.

Claiming that the total number of Covid-19 cases in Turkey was over thousands, contrary to what officials announce, Çınar said, "The number of cases has started reaching thousands. The number of cases is not in hundreds as they say. It is among the public now. The situation in İstanbul is very grave, Ankara has also begun quite gravely. It is in Van in the east, it has also started in Kayseri. Three cases are intubated, all three came from Umrah. Zekai Tahir [Hospital] is full, there are also those coming from Umrah and abroad. Whatever... We will first protect ourselves." (AS/V)