Physician Made to Apologize After Saying ‘Covid-19 Cases Exceed Thousands’

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After a video featuring a physician who argued that the number of coronavirus cases in Turkey was more than thousands was widely shared on social media yesterday (March 18), Ankara University has released a letter of apology penned by the physician.

In a written statement issued by the Chief Physician's Office of İbni Sina Hospital affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of Ankara University today, it has been stated, "You can find attached the statement of Attending Physician Güle Çınar about the video circulating on social media today. While a probe has been launched into the incident, the necessary warnings have been made. Announced to the public."

In the abovementioned video, infectious diseases physician Güle Çınar was seen to be addressing the personnel of the hospital at a training meeting. She was arguing that the number of coronavirus cases was now over thousands, the ones who returned to Turkey from Umrah changed the course of the outbreak, the situation was especially grave in İstanbul and Ankara and there were also cases in eastern provinces.

'I apologize to everyone'

In the letter of apology dated March 18 and shared by the İbni Sina Hospital Chief Physician's Office in her name, Dr. Çınar has indicated that in uttering those words, "her aim was to more clearly express the hard process that could be faced by the hospital, including a shortage of equipments, and to ensure that the hospital personnel embrace the process better."

"Neither did I make a political statement, nor I uttered any remarks that aimed to cause indignation and I will never do it", has stressed the physician and added, "Unfortunately, only a short part of my secretly recorded speech was deliberately shared on social media. If my entire speech had been captured and shared, it could be understood that I did not intend to cause any unfavorable situation."

Expressing her regret for the statement, Çınar has said, "From now on, I will be more careful and choose my words more carefully when I continue making great efforts to serve my patients, university and country. I apologize to everyone for creating a negative social perception."

What did Çınar say?

The video started circulating on social media yesterday evening. It was featuring a group of hospital personnel in a training meeting on coronavirus. While it could not be understood when the video was captured, Dr. Güle Çınar was saying that the first floor of the hospital had been evacuated and the second and fifth floors would also be evacuated soon.

Expressing her wish that "Turkey would not be like Italy", Çınar was arguing that though everything was under control at first, those who returned to Turkey from Umrah in Saudi Arabia "destroyed" everything.

Claiming that the total number of Covid-19 cases in Turkey was over thousands, contrary to what officials announce, Çınar said,

"The number of cases has started reaching thousands. The number of cases is not in hundreds as they say. It is among the public now. The situation in İstanbul is very grave, Ankara has also began quite gravely. It is in Van in the east, it has also started in Kayseri. Three cases are intubated, all three came from Umrah. Zekai Tahir [Hospital] is full, there are also those coming from Umrah and abroad. Whatever... We will first protect ourselves." (TP/SD)