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People in Turkey's southeastern region should be informed about the coronavirus outbreak in Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Mardin MP Tuma Çelik stated in a parliamentary question to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
There is a lot of information pollution and medical terms are not comprehensible, Çelik told bianet, adding that older people in the region, who are in the risk group, do not have a good command of Turkish. "In such an important issue, the mother tongue is vital."
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"The most important precautions regarding the outbreak are individual precautions. In order to prevent the virus from spreading, the public must be regularly informed.
"Turkey is a multilingual country. We have citizens who use many different languages. Kurdish and Arabic are the foremost among these. Arabic is very important for Syrians. Syriac is important in Mardin, Armenian and Greek are important in İstanbul."
'We have citizens who don't speak Turkish'
"In an issue where there is an intense flow of knowledge, the Health Minister sometimes has to make a statement twice a day. What will make it easier to understand is healthy communication.
"Think about it, we have citizens in Mardin who don't speak Turkish. For this reason, the ministry, the medical chambers and local administrations should provide multilingual information flow without losing time. Multilingual public announcements could be quickly prepared.
"Access to qualified healthcare is a basic human right. Providing citizens with healthcare in their mother tongue is the most basic part of healthcare services. This is one of the most important ways to combat coronavirus."
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The parliamentary question
MP Çelik asked the following questions to Minister Koca about Mardin, a southeastern province populated by Kurds, Arabs, and Syriacs:
- Will information leaflets in Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac be prepared for citizens who do not speak Turkish in Mardin?
- Do you have an action plan for the cities with tourist intensity, especially for Mardin?
- Is there anybody in Mardin who has been kept under surveillance on the suspicion of Covid19 in the last two months?
- Are the hospitals to be quarantined against a possible outbreak in Mardin determined?
- What preparations have been made for a possible outbreak in hospitals in Mardin?
- Is there a health personnel shortage in Mardin?
- Has adequate health equipment been supplied to Mardin?
- How many infectious diseases specialists are in hospitals in Mardin? (HA/VK)
