Two-day strike in the health sector in Turkey

A two-day strike by medical professionals and healthcare workers began in Turkey on Monday. Work was suspended in numerous cities in protest against the government’s deadly pandemic policy, poor pay and for better working conditions. Emergency and intensive care remained exempt from the strike.

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) called for the nationwide strike on “Medicine Day,” which has been celebrated in Turkey for more than a century on March 14. For months, the association’s chambers and unions have been taking to the streets and organizing walkouts to highlight the ills of the healthcare system. The government is still pursuing its murderous contagion policy and is not taking any health measures against the uncontrolled pandemic. Officially, the pandemic has claimed nearly 100,000 lives in Turkey to date, including hundreds of health care workers. The actual death toll is estimated to be more than double that. Nearly 15 million people have contracted the virus. But calls by the TTB and trade unions for a change of course and for Covid-19 to be classified as an occupational hazard continue to meet with disinterest in Ankara.

Dr. Halis Yerlikaya from the TTB Central Council took part in the strike in Mardin. The physician pointed out that the healthcare system in the country had become a risk to public health. Poor pay, staff overload and the economic crisis were having such a massive impact that servants reached a point where they could no longer provide health services, he said. “The treatment of health professionals has never been more undignified than it is today,” Yerlikaya said.

Binbaş: Death policy costs more lives every day

The head of the local medical association, Dr. Mustafa Volkan Binbaş, accused the government of making efforts to “manage public perception” rather than the epidemic process from the beginning of the pandemic. “With non-existent measures, they wanted to write a success story for the government, while the only goal was to generate profits for the economic and financial elite,” Binbaş criticized. At no point was the pandemic handled transparently or according to international standards, he said. From day one, he said, Ankara implemented a nebulous health policy in dealing with Corona. Facts and figures have been obscured and distorted, and the actions of the rulers have been haphazard, problematic, inconsistent and contradictory, Binbaş said and added, “These death policies are costing more lives every day.”

Strike motto: “We know those responsible for the severe consequences of the pandemic”

Other demands of the TTB include shorter shifts and better pay. The salaries of doctors and nursing staff are currently only just above the statutory minimum wage. Against a backdrop of sharp price increases, employees in a wide range of sectors are protesting for better wages across Turkey on an almost daily basis. They are also demanding measures to protect them from verbal and physical abuse by patients or their relatives. Violence against workers has increased sharply in the wake of the pandemic. According to a report by the Sağlık-Sen union, 316 healthcare workers were assaulted last year. More and more medical professionals are also going abroad. In January alone, there were reportedly 197 doctors, and last year there were 1400 in total, compared with only 59 in 2012 – for the entire year. Worries about the future and financial difficulties are the main reasons for emigration.