Turkey’s health sector speaks out against rising violence against medical personnel

ISTANBUL, July 7. (DPA/EP) –

Turkey’s health sector has demonstrated this Thursday in several cities of the country to protest the increase in violence against medical personnel and after the deadly attack on a cardiologist on Wednesday.

Some of the marches, such as the one held in Istanbul, have required the intervention of the Police, which has even used tear gas, as can be seen in images broadcast on social networks and the media.

The protesters have demanded the resignation of the Minister of Health, Fahrettin Koca, while the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) has called on health personnel to stop their work until Friday.

Before this day, the son of a patient in the city of Konya shot a cardiologist, considering that he was responsible for the death of his mother. Later, the attacker committed suicide and at the doctor’s funeral there were boos against Minister Koca, according to the ‘Cumhuriyet’ newspaper.

From the Konya Medical Association it has been denounced that the violence against professionals in the sector is already reaching “massacre” proportions, for which it has blamed the government and accused the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of populism.

In this context, the head of the organization, Bahdir Ozturk, has demanded that “drastic measures” be taken to deal with a situation of violence against doctors that is already “unsustainable”.

According to a report by the Saglik-Sen union, 316 health workers were assaulted last year. Due to poor working conditions in the sector and high inflation in Turkey, more and more doctors are migrating abroad, the associations report.