'Seven doctors leave Turkey every day'

*This article was published on atolyebia.org, the Communication Platform of Atölye BİA (BİA Workshop).

Click to read the article in Turkish

In recent years, thousands of doctors have immigrated to various countries because of the bad working conditions and the unsolved problems in the healthcare sector in Turkey.

The number of doctors who request a certificate of registration to be able to work in different countries. Some 1,405 doctors left the country in 2021. This year, it is expected to be much higher.

Vedat Bulut, the secretary-general of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), said an average of seven physicians receive a certificate in a day.

"The record was broken in March 2022 with 213. In April, it became 2154. Last year, 1,405 doctors went abroad. By the end of this year, it is expected to be 2,500. Fifty-five percent of these are specialist doctors. These are only the number of those who emigrated. We can't count those who switched to the private sector. Only the Ministry of Health knows that number."

Situation worse in coastal regions

Bulut said many doctors have been resigning in coastal regions and explained the reason for this situation as follows:

"Physician colleagues assigned in rotation do not have accommodation opportunities in places where they go. Accommodation fees are very high. People used to want to go to coastal regions when they reached a certain age. Now they are assigned with a phone message. In the past, there were public places [for accommodation]. Because they are sold now, [doctors] can't spend 500 lira for a night."

Fractured families of doctors

Doctors are faced with a lot of difficult situations, said Bulut.

"Physicians are assigned for three months, not for one or two days. Families are fractured. Their spouse is assigned in Adana and they are assigned in İstanbul. The family says, 'Unite us in Adana,' they are offered [to be reunited in] Kütahya.

"The Ministry of Health views physicians as slaves. This is an extremely wrong attitude. There are hundreds of doctors' families that are fractured. We receive phone calls from our physician colleagues every day."

Erdoğan to doctors

President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in March met women mukhtars (neighborhood heads) in the western province of Kütahya in March.

Speaking about doctors, he had said, "I'm speaking frankly; if they go, let them go. And we will employ our doctors who recently graduated from university."

The TTB and many doctors, politicians and renowned figures criticized the president's statements on social media.

Rally on May 29

Doctors will gather at a rally entitled "The Labor is Ours, the Health is Ours" on May 29 in the capital city of Ankara to bring up their problems from personal rights to violence in healthcare, from bad working conditions to immigration. (SS/ÖAÇ/SO/NÖ/VK)