‘Pandemic not included in Turkey’s 2021 budget’

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The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has shared its views on the 2021 Budget, which is currently discussed at the Parliament.

Reading out the TTB's statement in a press conference held at the TTB central office, Assoc. Prof. Deniz Erdoğdu from the TTB Central Council has stressed that the budget proposal was drafted unconstitutionally and single-handedly in a manner far from being participatory.

She has noted that the proposed budget does not foresee arrangements as to the COVID-19 pandemic and it does not prioritize public health.

2021 budget is narrower than last year

Referring to the Health Ministry's 2021 budget (77 billion 615 million 519 thousand TRY), Deniz Erdoğdu has emphasized that when calculated based on the exchange rate of the US dollar against lira, the 2021 budget of the ministry is 17 percent less than the one in 2020.

The physician has further emphasized that the annual budget foreseen for the next year allocates much more resources to the city hospitals and therapeutic healthcare services while not allocating sufficient funding for preventive care. According to Assoc. Prof. Erdoğdu, allocating enough resources to the public and raising their welfare level must be the priority.

Referring to the injustice of the tax system in Turkey, she has called on the authorities to lift the indirect taxes on citizens' basic consumption items and indicated that the income tax must not be levied.

Emphasis on preventive healthcare services

Erdoğdu has listed the Turkish Medical Association's (TTB) demands about the health budget briefly as follows:

"The budget of the Ministry of Health must be brought into line with the pandemic conditions. The share allocated to the preventive healthcare services must be increased, not that of therapeutic care.

"The budget of the Ministry of Health must account for at least 10 percent of the general budget.

"The share of income tax in the general budget revenues must be increased in such a way to apply to the well-off and corporations. The levy of a wealth tax must be considered especially in next years. Indirect taxes on basic needs such as food, electricity, water and transportation must be lifted or reduced. No income taxes must be levied from the minimum wage.

"The status of city/company hospitals must be abandoned, these hospitals must be turned into public hospitals and excessively high rents paid in dollars must also be abandoned.

"The personnel expenses must be removed from the budget and it must be transferred to the healthcare services.

"The share of the central state expenditures in healthcare expenditures must be increased while the share of the Social Security Institution (SGK) and household expenditures must be decreased; the share transferred to the SGK from the general budget must be increased. The payment made by the SGK to the private hospitals must be reduced.

"Instead of taking the 'bitter medicine' to get over the economic crisis, the car fleets purchased and the residents rented for the government agencies must be forsaken and the excessive and luxury consumption in the name of 'prestige' must be abandoned." (AS/SD)