Hospital linked to AKP figure involved in 'newborn' SGK fraud

41 people were detained for defrauding the Social Security Institution (SGK) by illegally referring newborn babies to private hospitals in Istanbul, Tekirdağ, and Çorlu. The operation, launched by the Financial Crimes Investigation Bureau under the coordination of the Büyükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, also implicated a hospital belonging to a former AKP minister.

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Hospital linked to AKP figure involved in 'newborn' SGK fraud

It was determined that the network, which included doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators, referred babies from public hospitals to private intensive care units in exchange for a 20 percent commission.

The hospitals identified as paying commissions to have babies referred to them have also been included in the scope of this investigation.

According to a report in Birgün, private hospitals such as Beylikdüzü Medilife, Avcılar Hospital, Medicine Esenyurt, as well as Reyap Esenyurt and Reyap Çorlu, to which the network transferred hundreds of babies over the course of 2 years, have been placed under scrutiny.

"AVCILAR HOSPITAL, WHICH I FOUNDED"

While the interrogation of those detained continues, Avcılar Hospital has drawn attention among the hospitals involved in the investigation.

This is because the hospital is associated with Mehmet Müezzinoğlu, who served as a member of parliament for the AKP for 4 terms, as Minister of Labor and Social Security between August 31, 2016, and July 19, 2017, and as Minister of Health between January 24, 2013, and May 24, 2016.

Müezzinoğlu, who still uses a photo of himself with AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan as his profile picture on his X account and worked for the AKP in the last elections, celebrated the hospital's 15th anniversary in a tweet he posted in 2012, stating that he was the founder of the hospital.

Müezzinoğlu's tweet dated December 1, 2012, reads: “Avcılar Hospital, which I founded, has turned 15. Many more years, Avcılar Hospital.”