Terrifying confessions of the 'Newborn Gang': Their secret plans revealed

The investigation continues into the collusion with individuals working at the 112 Emergency Call Center to transfer newborn emergency patients to pre-arranged private hospital neonatal units, causing their deaths and generating illicit profit. The indictment prepared against the "Newborn Gang" also includes transcripts of the gang members' conversations.

THEY JOKED

According to Hürriyet's report, the indictment includes a conversation between detained suspects nurse Hasan Basri Gök and nurse Hakan Doğukan Taşçı, who monitored patients across 11 hospitals. Complaining that Dr. Fırat Sarı, alleged to be the gang leader, was not paying them, the two suspects discussed plans to sell a drug used in respiratory treatment behind Sarı's back to make money. While talking, they joked and laughed about going to prison and becoming the subject of news reports.

Those conversations were included in the indictment as follows:

HASAN BASRİ GÖK: Doğukan, let's sell it under the table.

HAKAN DOĞUKAN TAŞÇI: How are you going to do it secretly from the doctor?

GÖK: He won't know.

GÖK: Forget about 100, we've sold 60 so far. I couldn't calculate how much money that makes at 10 thousand.

TAŞÇI: 720 thousand... Hasan, we'll push out 100 every month... 1 million 200 thousand every month. Hasan, multiply it by 12, that's one trillion [old currency reference for 1 billion]. It exceeds one trillion in a year, plus the 200. One trillion 2 million 400 thousand. We'll make the news, they'll censor our faces and eyes saying they committed one trillion in drug smuggling, Hasan.

GÖK: Hahah...

TAŞÇI: They'll put black bars over our eyes, they'll Photoshop our photos side by side, put us together. Drug companies, drug mafias will come after us.

GÖK: Hahaha...

TAŞÇI: Those s.o.b.s will say, 'These people have taken over the country, what are they doing?', they'll have us shot, Hasan, they'll take our families hostage.

GÖK: Haha...

CONFESSED TO THE DEATH!

- Another conversation in the indictment revealed how a Syrian baby lost its life. The conversation between gang leader Dr. Fırat Sarı, Dr. İlker Gönen, and ambulance driver Gıyasettin Mert Özdemir:

Fırat Sarı: He might look at the film and say it wasn't like this to us, or...

İLKER GÖNEN: I mean, I didn't make a big deal out of it, because the family is Syrian, there's nothing, they didn't initiate a forensic medicine process for the child, the child was buried.

SARI: Ok. If the obstetrician calls later...

SARI: ... Should we remove the film from the records or something, okay, but whatever now...

GÖNEN: No, no, we filled out the child's death certificate, the child has already been buried.

Gıyasettin Mert ÖZDEMİR: A baby passed away there yesterday, I don't know if you're aware, diaphragm...

Fırat Sarı: I know, yes... I mean, if a tube had been inserted into that child, maybe they would have lived, I don't know... Even worse, if Figen takes that film and sends it to someone, there's nothing for a diaphragmatic hernia in that film, they closed it by calling it a diaphragmatic hernia... I don't know those parts, I mean they took the film and called it a diaphragmatic hernia... It didn't rise or anything, for some reason they didn't think of inserting a tube, I don't understand.

- 112 Emergency Call Center ambulance driver Gıyasettin Mert Özdemir, nurse Hakan Doğukan Taşçı, and nurse Hasan Basri Gök stated that they wanted to benefit from effective remorse provisions. Stating that he would sincerely tell everything he knew, Gök noted the following in his statement:

“Fırat Sarı wanted Gıyasettin Mert Özdemir to find unhealthy newborn babies from hospitals he knew and was in contact with, to be brought to the neonatal intensive care units under his own control. The intensive care units operated by Fırat Sarı, which had a capacity of approximately 350 beds, were mostly full. Fırat Sarı was billing the Social Security Institution (SGK) for these babies. For this, epicrisis reports were required.

Almost all of these reports were prepared irregularly. He had created a format and would give this format he created to the nurses responsible for the intensive care units in the hospitals he operated, and he wanted epicrisis reports to be written by making edits on the printed format.”

Stating that Fırat Sarı made additional payments to the salaries of those who prepared the reports, Gök continued his statement: “Everything that could be billed to the SGK was billed, and excess money was taken from the state. If a newborn receiving treatment in intensive care needed one medication, they would show it as if five medications were used and bill for it.

They obtained illicit income from the excess invoices cut to the SGK. Their reason for not wanting foreign national babies is that the SGK pays the fees for foreign babies late.”