Bill on Prevention of Violence in Healthcare Rejected by AKP, MHP

* Photo: Raşit Aydoğan - Ankara/AA

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Submitted by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Ali Şeker, the proposal to bring the bill on preventing violence in healthcare directly into Parliamentary agenda has been rejected by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Taking the floor to address the General Assembly of the Parliament yesterday (April 7), Şeker said that he would speak not as an MP, but as a physician. Şeker briefly stated the following about the bill:

'20,000 health workers subjected to violence in 1.5 year'

"We, as the public, applauded healthcare workers for three days, but what has come after that is a triple dot, null...

"If we, as the Parliament, cannot do more than what we did with the public and cannot pass a law on preventing violence in healthcare, what is the difference between us and the ones applauding on the street? A mere applause is not enough, we want to fulfill our responsibilities.

"The bill has been pending at the commission for one and a half year now. Meanwhile, 20 thousand healthcare workers have been subjected to violence. In the last 7 years, 90 thousand health workers have been inflicted violence. Nine physicians were killed on duty from 2005 to 2019.

'Let's give a moral support to health workers'

"Healthcare workers will need a higher determination to struggle in the upcoming days and they are more likely to be subjected to violence due to this cramped healthcare capacity.

"So, let's fulfill our duty, bring this law into the agenda as soon as possible, enact it as a law and, as the Parliament, let's give a moral support to health workers waging a struggle for public health. It is the responsibility that falls on our shoulders in this period of coronavirus pandemic."

In response to this statement, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Group Deputy Chair Meral Danış-Beştaş also said, "We are ready to give support."

AKP: We have our preparation

Taking the floor about the proposal, ruling AKP Group Deputy Chair Özlem Zengin said that they already had their preparation about the issue.

"It is not possible for us to accept the violence targeting our physicians in the first place," Zengin noted and briefly stated the following:

"In that first meeting that we made with our Mr. President, all ministers and the chairs of all important non-governmental organizations of Turkey, our Minister of Health requested two things from us.

"One of these requests was to make payments on the highest level as there was a system based on performance and the second request was to enact this law about violence in healthcare.

"The first request has been fulfilled. And about this issue... We already have our preparation about it. But, in doing this, we want to do it all together."

MHP Group Deputy Chair Erkan Akçay also emphasized that "not bringing the bill into the Parliamentary agenda did not mean that the law would not be enacted" and added that "a conclusion would be reached by covering a distance with the political party groups."

Proposal rejected by AKP, MHP votes

After the statements of MPs, a vote was taken on the proposal.

The main opposition CHP's proposal to bring the Bill Foreseeing Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code directly into Parliamentary agenda as per the Article 37 of the Internal Regulation of the Parliament has been rejected by the votes of AKP and MHP MPs. (EKN/SD)