'Health workers pay the price for Turkey’s collapsing healthcare system’

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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the medical chambers affiliated with it made statements for the press yesterday (November 11). In the fourth week of the protests with the slogan "It is our labor, it is our word", they reiterated their demand for improving the working conditions of healthcare workers and offering safe and healthy working spaces."

In the protests held in the provinces of İstanbul, Diyarbakır, Kocaeli, Adana, Mersin, Bursa, Antep, Adıyaman and Balıkesir, the medical chambers said, "We are paying the price for the healthcare system which has collapsed; we do not want to pay any more prices."

The problems faced by physicians and healthcare workers during the pandemic were briefly listed as follows:

"Since March 11, 2020, when the first case was officially announced, 19 months have passed and we are still going through the destructive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without a doubt, it is health laborers who have been affected most by the pandemic during this process.

"Due to the government's mindset disregarding health laborers and people, we have lost hundreds of our friends to a preventable disease.

'Working many hours without a break'

"All through the pandemic, physicians and healthcare workers have had to work in unsuitable conditions for a long time. 

"We, health workers, paid and still pay the price for the government's deficient, wrong and inconsistent practices not based on scientific information, far from transparency and not considering local dynamics.

"Working many hours without a break, working in [night and weekend] shifts frequently, examining a patient every 5 minutes, intense workload and being subject to violence have become normal in medical institutions, which are our working space. These problems that we had before the pandemic have been aggravated by the outbreak, making our working conditions worse.

'Right to leave-rest violated'

The right to work in a safe environment, a fundamental human right, has been violated in this process.

"The rights of job security, suitable working environment, suitable working hours, right to leave and rest, employment in a suitable job, fair wages and organization have been disregarded during the pandemic.

"Medical environments in Turkey have become risky places for not only healthcare workers, but for non-COVID patients as well.

"The current unfavorable conditions of this system, which has been marketized in the name of a healthcare reform, have become manifest during the pandemic. We are paying the price for the collapsing healthcare system; we do not want to pay any more prices."

Concluding their statements, the medical chambers also listed their recommendations to eliminate the aforementioned problems. (RT/SD)