Özgür Özel criticizes government's health policy: 'Patients are having nervous breakdowns'

CHP leader Özgür Özel attended the Primary and Preventive Health Services Workshop held at the Çankaya Municipality Zübeyde Hanım Facilities.

Criticizing the government's health policies, Özel said that the country is going through a process where appointment times have extended, appointments cannot be obtained, and patients are having nervous breakdowns while on the phone.

Stating that even the slightest fluctuation in the exchange rate leads to shortages of the most basic medicines in Turkey, Özel argued that dental health services have reached a point where they are not offered to anyone except those with a lot of money or those with good insurance policies.

Touching upon the problems faced by nurses and veterinarians, Özel said, "This hall is the hall of those who were proven right. As a political party that has heard and listened to this hall for 22 years, and as those who have come from within this hall and proposed and criticized all policies accordingly, we now also know how to do things right. Whatever is to be done will be done together with this hall."

'ECONOMIC CRISIS HAS TURNED INTO A SOCIAL CRISIS'

Expressing that Turkey has been in a severe economic crisis for a long time, Özel stated that the economic crisis has turned into a social crisis that is particularly reflected in education and health services.

Özel emphasized that their primary priority is the development of preventive health services and ensuring that everyone has access to adequate, equal, and quality health services.

Reporting that the amount allocated per person for preventive health services in the budget prepared for 2024 is 1,243 liras, Özel said the following:

"This state has allocated only 1,243 liras to protect the health of each of us, and this is the most important indicator to show how this issue is actually viewed. 27.6 percent of the initial appropriation of the Ministry of Health's 2024 budget, roughly 1/4, is allocated to preventive health services, and 3/4 is allocated to curative health services. However, the necessity of increasing the share of preventive health services within the budget is what this hall has been expressing for many long years and is the very cause that forms the source of all problems."

Stating that it should be ensured that citizens can have regular health check-ups and early diagnosis tests at the point closest to where they live, Özel pointed to the importance of immediately increasing the realization rate of free periodic vaccinations and announcing an emergency plan regarding this.

Özel stated that there were major disruptions in vaccination services in 2023 because many vaccines, such as those for measles and tuberculosis, were not supplied on time, and noted the following:

'186 BILLION LIRAS WILL BE PAID BY THE END OF 2026'

We followed with concern that the distribution of the 5-in-1 combination, measles, rubella, mumps, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, chickenpox, and anti-serums from the Ministry of Health's vaccine warehouse was not carried out in July 2024.

On the other hand, more than 11 percent of the budget allocated for the 2024 curative health program was paid to cover the rent of city hospitals; this figure is 57.5 billion liras. A total of 186 billion liras will be paid from the budget in 3 years, including this year, until the end of 2026 for the usage fees of hospitals that were promised to 'not cost the nation a single penny'."

Saying that it has become normalized today for hospitals to give appointments for endoscopies a year in advance, Özel stated that the problem created is entirely a structural issue.

CHP Chairman Özel said, "In the upcoming government of the Republic of Turkey, when the government of the people is truly established, the problems will be solved from the root. The hospitals belong to the nation, the duty to serve belongs to the state, and the right to live with dignity belongs to this nation."