Health workers to Erdoğan: We are not the ones to leave

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Health Services Union (SAHİM-SEN) has made a statement about President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks targeting physicians in Turkey.

Speaking at a Women's Day event, Erdoğan talked about the shortage of physicians in city hospitals by briefly saying: "Are they off to work in the private sector in spite of this because they are paid much more? So be it, let them go. We will employ our newly graduated doctors here and carry on with them. We swiftly invite the ones who want to come back to Turkey from abroad, if needed. It will not remain empty around here, don't worry."

In response to these remarks, SAHİM-SEN Chair Özlem Akarken has said, "We sadly listened to President Erdoğan's statements. The wrong healthcare system pits the public against the healthcare community. This mistake must be corrected as soon as possible."

Referring to Erdoğan's remarks amid the debates of violence in healthcare, employee personal lights, harsh working conditions and brain drain of healthcare workers, SAHİM-SEN Chair Akarken has said:

"Almost not even a single day passes without an incident of violence; as for incompetence, it is running apace, it cannot be prevented; health workers' employee personal rights have been trampled upon...

"While we are trying to correct the mistakes in the healthcare system, we have come to a deadlock following Erdoğan's statement."

Asking "How can we turn a blind eye to the living conditions made difficult by inflation", Özlem Akarken has said:

"We are having difficulty in understanding how the issue of the healthcare system came up while the discussion was on sunflower oil prices. This is is an open character assassination against physicians and health workers. 'If necessary, we will swiftly invite the ones who want to return to our country from abroad,' says President Erdoğan. I ask: Which healthcare worker would want to come back to an unhealthy healthcare system?"

Reiterating that they will not allow the professional honor of any of the groups constituting the "army of health", from nurses to technicians, to be trampled upon, Akarken has said, "We will keep on struggling until we acquire our rights. A healthy healthcare system is this country's right. We are not the ones to leave." (AÖ/SD)