Scandal! 'Cleaning staff entered surgery and acted as a doctor's assistant!'

A new one has been added to the scandals in healthcare. According to a report by Ruşen Takva from T24, a cleaning staff member named M.K. working at the Lokman Hekim Hospital in Van was brought into surgeries to act as an assistant to doctors. It was learned that M.K., who is a primary school graduate and has no training in healthcare, allegedly participated in gynecological, bypass, and brain surgeries to date. 

The hospital management denied the accusations. They stated that cleaning staff are permitted to enter the operating room in accordance with regulations, that any intervention by them on patients is out of the question, and that the relevant regulatory rules are being followed.

The hospital management reiterated this claim in their written statement. However, in footage recently taken in the operating room, it can be seen that the cleaning staff member named M.K., who is at the center of the allegations, is intervening with a patient and acting like an assistant to the specialist doctor during a cesarean section. In another video, it is understood that the same person is assisting another surgeon during a brain surgery. No statement was made by the hospital management regarding whether M.K. has any training on this subject.

*IMAGE TAKEN FROM T24 NEWS SITE

Speaking about the allegations against Van Lokman Hekim Hospital, an employee working at the same hospital said, "The allegations are true. The people mentioned are people we know and we know they do not have diplomas. There are even records of one of them performing procedures alone during a surgery while no specialist doctor was present."

'HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT KNOWS AND THEY ENTER MANY SURGERIES'

The employee in question continued as follows:

"They themselves would say they didn't have diplomas. Because they worked in a closed environment like an operating room, they could do this without anyone seeing. They already said they didn't have diplomas but had been trained that way by doctors for many years. They are 'self-taught,' so to speak. The hospital management is aware of this situation.

The person in question is someone the hospital management and directors also know, and they enter many surgeries. Among these surgeries are bypass, gynecology, and especially brain surgery operations. These are the staff who personally assist the doctor during these procedures. Furthermore, it is not just 1 person. We know that there are 6-7 self-taught personnel working in the operating room department in this way. We even know that the operating room supervisor does not have a diploma."

'USED SINGLE-USE MATERIALS IN OTHER SURGERIES'

K.N., who has been working for six years at the hospital at the center of the allegations, said, "I have witnessed many times that this staff without a diploma entered surgery. I even saw that single-use materials were used multiple times in other surgeries."

Stating that they saw more than one person performing procedures in the operating room without a diploma, K.N. said, “L.E., M.K., and H.T., these were cleaning staff. They did not have any health diplomas. They personally said they were not graduates of a health high school or university. We already see that this staff continues to enter surgeries."

HOSPITAL DENIES ALLEGATIONS

The hospital management denied the allegations. In the statement made, it was said, "As the Lokman Hekim Health Group, we carry out all our work and procedures within the framework of the rules determined by law. Based on the allegations in question, the rules regarding the personnel to be assigned to the operating room are clearly regulated by the 'Regulation on the Operation of Inpatient Treatment Institutions.' Therefore, the allegations in question are not true."