Infant deaths in private hospitals to be investigated in the Turkish Parliament: Commission established

A Parliamentary Research Commission has been established to investigate infant deaths occurring in certain private healthcare institutions.

The General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) held a session regarding the establishment of a research commission into the illegal activities and practices of private hospitals.

At the end of the deliberations, the establishment of the commission was approved.

The commission will serve for 3 months and will be able to work outside of Ankara when necessary.

Meanwhile, a research motion submitted by the Saadet Party Group, titled 'Preventing the newborn scandal and similar potential incidents, strengthening oversight mechanisms, and scrutinizing the practices of healthcare institutions more strictly,' was taken up on the agenda.

Taking the floor to explain the rationale for the motion, Saadet Party Group Deputy Chairman Bülent Kaya stated, “We are not making any allegations that the Minister of Health or the Provincial Health Director at that time were part of this gang, at least based on the evidence we have.

But regarding the oversight duty, while these gangs were operating freely and, as it were, making the subcontracting of neonatal intensive care units to subsidiary companies a widespread practice, were you sleeping or not, Mr. Provincial Health Director, Mr. current Minister of Health? Of course, you have to account for this to this nation.

The fact that you send it to the relevant judicial law enforcement agencies after a citizen discovers what you did not and complains to CİMER does not absolve you of responsibility. Think about it, a person who has served as Minister of Health in this country and owns a private hospital subcontracts their intensive care unit to a subsidiary company, why? Because they know very well where costs need to be cut so that the subsidiary company can make a profit, or rather, make more profit.”

The motion was rejected by the votes of AKP and MHP deputies.