Not a hospital, but a place of business...

Shortly after the brutal murder of two young women, we woke up to dark days where newborn babies were murdered for money. We witnessed merchants who have no share in the honor of humanity, the medical profession, or the Hippocratic Oath, turning into devils feeding on the lives and blood of babies, forming gangs and walking among us. Of course, no punishment to be given, no step to be taken will soothe the hearts of mothers who have lost their children or ease their pain. But it is as clear as day that structural measures must be taken so that other babies and lives are not lost...

Look, the words spoken a few days ago by Prof. Dr. Alpay Azap, President of the Central Council of the Turkish Medical Association, whom we frequently saw on screens and followed closely during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a professional organization meeting held in Aydın, are very important... Dr. Azap summarized what needs to be done at the end of his speech as follows;

1. Stating that a free, equal, accessible, and qualified public health system is possible, he underlined that the Health Transformation Program, the commercialization of health, and subcontracting must be abandoned immediately,

2. He emphasized that public officials who caused dire consequences by failing to carry out the necessary inspections must be held accountable before the law,

3. Stating that closed hospitals should be transferred to the public, he indicated that the rights of the doctors and healthcare workers working there must be protected and that all legal and administrative processes regarding the matter must be carried out in an open and transparent manner. (ttb.org.tr)

While these three points explain the point reached by the commercialized health system in Turkey, they also serve as an important guide on what needs to be done. Despite the construction of massive hospital buildings that became palace-like during the AKP government, the appointment system has become clogged and people have been forced to rely on various private hospitals. After private universities opened in apartment flats, with the commercialization of private hospitals, the citizen's right to education and health, which is a public right, has not only been taken away but has also become unqualified and insecure. As can happen in any institution that becomes unqualified and remains away from supervision, abuses have increased in these areas as well, and devilish gangs have played with the lives of the nation. Do we know in what other areas of health this bloody money earned through the lives of babies and gang formation exists? No! Does this structure have other extensions? Are there elements that have remained outside of the questioning? Once trust is lost, a thousand and one questions come to mind...

Of course, it must be stated that health service is a public right, while protecting the honor of thousands of doctors, healthcare personnel, and hospitals that do their jobs properly. People should not have to sell everything they have, their fields or plots of land, to keep their lives, children, babies, elderly, mothers, or fathers alive, or be forced to leave them to death if they have no income... As long as this broken order does not change, and as long as the health sector does not move away from a market-oriented mentality, it is possible for all kinds of irregularities and filth seen in the market and the commercial world to occur here as well. The painful part of the matter is that there is a need for a government that internalizes that what is at stake here is a human life, and that human life is not an element that can be protected, ignored, or disregarded based on money or income status like any other commodity. A public-oriented health approach is only possible with an ideological approach and political will that defends a public-oriented, social state. As Dr. Azap said, instead of closing those hospitals, they should be nationalized and provide free health services to the public. In addition, the necessary measures must be taken immediately so that this health massacre does not damage the public's trust relationship with healthcare workers.

We should have neither a baby to lose, nor a doctor to lose...

So, where is the political will that will protect the rights and laws of the citizen and healthcare workers, and at the same time carry out a public-oriented revolution in health? Is there anyone who sees it?