Over 100,000 health workers in Turkey used emergency code for violence in 2021

Some 101,094 healthcare workers sought help after being subjected to violence in 2021, a report compiled by MP Tekin Bingöl of the Republican People's Party (CHP) showed.

The number of healthcare workers who used the "white code" to notify the hospital security in cases of violence has increased dramatically since 2017, according to the Ministry of Health's annual activity reports.

While 7,751 health workers used the white code in 2017, it rose to 46,274 in 2019, and to 72,158 in 2020. Just over 7,000 of the incidents were investigated by prosecutors in 2019 and 2020 each.

Only 10 percent of the health workers could receive legal assistance from the ministry.

In an interview with bianet in May, the chair of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), Şebnem Korur-Fincancı, said the places where violence against health workers was most common were emergency services, polyclinics and state hospitals.

Doctors and healthcare workers in Turkey have long pressed the government to take action against violence.

Health workers from across the country went on a two-day strike on July 7 and 8, following the killing of a cardiologist by the son of a patient in Konya, central Turkey. (TY/VK)