Family physicians to strike: New walkout scheduled for January 6-10, 2025

Following the walkouts they held in November and December, family physicians and healthcare workers have announced that they will go on strike once again from January 6 to 10, 2025. The strike, which includes family physicians and midwives, will last for a total of 5 days.

"OUR WAGES ARE BEING ARBITRARILY REDUCED"

Dr. Derya Mengücük, President of the Union and Solidarity Syndicate (Birlik ve Dayanışma Sendikası), expressed the difficulties healthcare workers have long faced and the unfair wage regulations they are experiencing, stating that they would carry out this action. Dr. Derya Mengücük stated, "As family physicians and family health workers who provide healthcare services selflessly across Turkey, we continue our reaction and protest against unfair practices that are contrary to human dignity. The recently issued Family Medicine Contract and Payment Regulation deeply damages our professional rights and job security. This is an imposition of a system that disregards our labor and dedication. It makes job security and security in retirement impossible. Our wages are being arbitrarily reduced through unattainable targets, and the quality of healthcare services is being jeopardized. We see that in order to prevent this from being understood, and to mislead both the employees and the public, they are excluding certain targets and criteria from calculations this month and perhaps for the next few months. The fact that they are arbitrarily excluding certain rates from calculations in a way that does not comply with the very regulation they published confirms that these deductions are real. The goal is to camouflage this for a while. This is a practice that ignores the individual responsibility of the patient.”