If a 'disorderly system' has been established even in a City Hospital...

The healthcare system and the city hospital project are among the achievements Erdoğan boasts about the most.

Indeed, during an opening ceremony for a hospital in Istanbul in the final days of last month, he stated, "I would like to express with great pride that one of the finest examples of our people-centered politics is healthcare," adding that "we are now a player in a different league in the field of health" and that "they take pride in this on behalf of our country."

Anything else?

He accused those who criticize the commercialization of healthcare of being trapped in the jargon of the 1960s and 70s... He explained how much they have increased the number of personnel, which is the key point of healthcare, and emphasized that with this strong human resource, they have increased the annual number of examinations to over 1 billion across Turkey... He noted that while citizens used to go abroad for quality diagnosis and treatment, today people from all over the world come to Turkey, and our health tourism revenue is approaching 2 billion 200 million dollars... While reminding that healthcare is a matter directly related to human life, he spoke as follows:

"As the government, we do not show mercy the moment we detect anyone working in a disorderly manner in the provision of health services. No one can damage our country's reputation or endanger the health of our citizens and guests just to 'earn more money.' We are doing and will continue to do whatever is necessary to ensure that greedy, ambitious individuals do not cast a shadow over Turkey's growing health tourism."

SAW NO DOCTOR OTHER THAN THE EMERGENCY DOCTOR

It may not be appropriate to cast a shadow on this magnificent (!) picture of our healthcare system, but I want to share what happened to my friend of 40 years, M.A., just two days before that speech by Erdoğan.

M.A., who lives in one of our large districts in the West, fell in the machine room of his house on the evening of December 24. With the fall, he felt as if all his vertebrae had practically shifted into one another. After lying down for a while and regaining his composure, he went to the emergency room of the state hospital in the district with his own vehicle, thinking 'better safe than sorry.' A tomography was taken quickly, but he was transferred by ambulance to the city hospital in the province on the grounds that there was no neurosurgeon there. Meanwhile, an intravenous line was opened while on the road.

When he went to the hospital, X-rays and MRIs were taken, and blood was drawn for analysis. During this process, he saw no doctor other than the doctor sitting at the emergency reception desk. After the procedures were completed and the results arrived, it was understood that he had two closed fractures in his shoulder. The emergency doctor informed M.A. that they would keep him under observation for 2 hours, after which he could be discharged if he wished, and said that he should lie on his back for 1 month without getting up at all, and that he could move with a steel corset in a controlled manner for 2 months. He wrote all of this as a prescription on a plain piece of paper, and also recommended Coraspin and a neurosurgery outpatient clinic check-up after 2 months.

When the observation period he spent on the stretcher ended, M.A. wanted to leave, but he was informed that his transfer could not be carried out until morning because there was no ambulance at the hospital. Upon this, M.A. called the deputy mayor of the district where he lives, who is a friend of his, at 01:00 at night and asked for help. He sent the municipality's ambulance and brought M.A. to his home on a stretcher.

BUT HE HAD SURGERY WITHOUT KNOWING IT

While M.A. had been lying down for 19 days almost without moving, in accordance with the doctor's recommendation, he was called by the Ministry of Health's Alo 182 line on January 12.

When the caller said they wanted to conduct a satisfaction survey regarding the surgery he had at the city hospital, M.A. replied in astonishment, "But I didn't have surgery."

The other party panicked and hung up the phone, saying, "Okay, we apologize."

M.A. naturally became suspicious and immediately logged into his e-Devlet account. Two procedures appeared, recorded under the name of a neurosurgeon whose face he had never seen. There were no details of the procedure, only a code.

He immediately asked the doctors he knew what this meant. The exact answer given was:

"They do this for small procedures. But it means they are daring enough to do it for such a big one... They have received performance points by showing the patient as if they had surgery for a spinal fracture."

Performance points refer to a system where doctors are given a certain share from the revolving fund based on criteria such as the number of patients they see and the procedures they perform.

This is a system that ranges from increasing the number of patients seen by entering records for patients who are not actually examined—which is the much-boasted-about practice—to the point of showing someone as having had surgery, as happened to M.A.

M.A.'s astonishment, as he continued his research, did not end there; he was practically shocked when he looked at the list of procedures allegedly performed on him in the emergency room of the city hospital that night.

The list included; daytime bed fees, two consultations for each physician, plus 4 catheters, 50 examination gloves, a paper urinal, and a paper bedpan as consumables.

We are talking about the brutal fraud committed by private hospitals to receive payments from the SGK at the maximum limit, as in the "newborn gang" example, but what should we say about these activities in state hospitals, which officially means the state defrauding the state?!