Turkish Medical Association calls on ministry to ‘penalize violence in healthcare’

* Photo: Evrensel

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has written to the Ministry of Justice and the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) in the face of escalating violence against healthcare workers in the country.

In a recent incident, two physicians were taken hostages and battered at the hospital of Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine in western Turkey. Amid public backlash at these incidents of violence, the TTB wrote letters to the Justice Ministry and the HSK on January 18, 2022.

The letters of the TTB have recalled that after Dr. Ersin Arslan was killed by the relative of a patient on April 17, 2012, the TTB made insistent requests for legal amendments against violence in healthcare. However, despite these requests, the related amendment has been introduced to the Fundamental Law no. 3359 on Health Services, not the penal legislation.

The TTB has underlined that while the related legal regulations are not adequate, violence in healthcare is still considered a reason for arrest, the sentences shall be increased by half and the announcement of verdicts shall not be deferred, noting that it is not the case in practice:

"However, in practice, as it was seen at the Denizli Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine Hospital, no measure of arrest is taken against a suspect who battered physicians, threatened them with death, attempted to kill them and took them hostages by locking them up in a room."

Reiterating its demand for a legal amendment to the penal legislation within this context, the TTB has also requested that the members of the judiciary be informed of the current legislation. (EMK/SD)