Health Minister's statement on the 'Newborn Gang': 'We launched a secret operation'

Following the "Newborn Gang" scandal, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a meeting today at Dolmabahçe Palace with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice regarding the matter. Following this development, Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu made statements during a live broadcast he attended.

The statements made by Minister Memişoğlu are as follows:

"I am very sad. We are talking about a ruthless gang that unfortunately did not care for our babies and caused their deaths. As a father, I am very sad. We dismantled this gang; we dismantled this gang with the power of the state through very secret operations.

'WE DO NOT CALL THEM HEALTHCARE WORKERS'

This gang, unfortunately, has not received its share of humanity; we do not call them healthcare workers. A tip-off regarding newborns arrived at the end of March 2023, and our inspection staff conducted audits. Although they could not find anything in terms of evidence, they noticed that "there is a problem here" and came to me.

"3 MINISTRIES SECRETLY LAUNCHED THE OPERATION"

What did we do here? We called a supervisor friend from the financial crimes bureau, thank you to them, I called them. Our own legal counsel and the supervisor friend. We said we could find this through very secret technical surveillance. 3 Ministries secretly launched the operation. We had not calculated that they could be ruthless enough to involve babies in this."

'WE CLOSED 10 HOSPITALS TODAY'

We worked very secretly; we tried not to have babies transferred to these hospitals. Our prosecutors spent a great deal of time. An operation was carried out against this gang on April 26, 2024. The financial crimes bureau always asked us how they should investigate, and we sent physicians. We were already constantly inspecting them in September, October, and November 2023, on November 16, November 29, and January 18. We did not make any 112 transfers to them throughout 2024 either. The confidentiality order was lifted on April 27. 41 people were detained, 22 of whom were arrested. This arrest, indictment, and investigation are ongoing. We dismantled a gang with a single CİMER application; as the Ministry of Health, we carry out all our inspections. I want to tell our citizens this: When a complaint comes in, we inspect it. Our people should not be suspicious, wondering if there are other cases. We will not show mercy to anyone. Today, we closed 10 hospitals today.

'AN OPERATION CONDUCTED 6 MONTHS AGO'

This is an operation that was conducted 6 months ago. As a result of this, these people will serve their full sentences. Why did this come to the agenda? Someone went to the Büyükçekmece Prosecutor and threatened him to have them released. That is how it came back to the agenda. It is an operation conducted 6 months ago; it should have actually been on the agenda back then. We carry out these inspections in a way that does not forgive even the slightest mistake.

'IT IS OUR DUTY TO CATCH THE ROTTEN APPLES'

The lives of our people, the lives of our babies, are more valuable than anything. People should not be anxious. These ruthless people also stole the rights of our healthcare workers. It is our duty to catch such rotten apples. These are not creatures that represent our healthcare workers. This was on our agenda 5.5 months ago. It is on the society's agenda today, but we carried out this operation 5.5 months ago.

MEETING WITH ERDOĞAN

In our meeting with our President, he gave the instruction, "I am behind you all the way, do what is necessary." We are the good ones fighting against the bad. People should not be saddened; we are the guarantee for people's health. We have dismantled this gang. I want the Turkish public to trust our healthcare workers. Our healthcare system is one of the best healthcare systems. Our duty is to remove those rotten apples from among us. We are carrying out all our inspections and controls.

'WE ARE WORKING IN COORDINATION WITH ALL OUR INSTITUTIONS'

We have already sent the file resulting from the inspection to both the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior. Because the Social Security Institution (SGK) was financially harmed. We are working in coordination with all our institutions. Doctors working there who are not involved in this matter will of course be evaluated. However, in this environment of crime, those hospitals will be sealed. Every tip-off received is evaluated and forwarded to the relevant unit. The citizens should know this. If it weren't for CİMER, if we hadn't carried out this investigation and secret operation, these hospitals would still be operating. The threatening of the prosecutor brought this back to the agenda. Those who made these threats are also currently under arrest. These people will receive all kinds of punishment. The image of the person threatening them to get them out of prison is today's image.

News Source: 12punto