Family physicians, family health midwives, and nurses to go on strike

Stating that the system has become unsustainable due to the lack of job security for family physicians, the failure to provide public building support, and the burden of rising costs placed on physicians, AHESEN Chairman Dr. Ahmet Kandemir said, “Although the Ministry says it will increase the number of family medicine units, physicians, family health midwives, and nurses are not choosing this field. In the additional placements made in İzmir, 20 family medicine units were opened, but there were no applications for any of them. While family medicine units remain empty even in a large city like İzmir, it is not difficult to assume that the picture is the same in other provinces. Virtual FHCs (Family Health Centers without buildings) are remaining empty. This is the greatest indicator that the healthcare system is sounding the alarm.”

According to the report in T24, reminding that a Family Health Center (FHC) with 7 units in Balçova, İzmir, was evicted on the grounds that it was unsuitable, Kandemir stated, “Not only are public buildings not allocated to our colleagues, but they are told, ‘Find a new place on your own or go somewhere else.’ If physicians cannot find a building with their own means, even contract termination may come to the agenda. Family physicians have neither job security nor public building security.”

Emphasizing that the Ministry of Health insists on not making regulations in the current legislation, Dr. Kandemir said, “It is becoming increasingly difficult for citizens to receive qualified and accessible healthcare services. If the family medicine system is not strengthened, it will become almost impossible to receive healthcare services from the public sector. We do not want our patients to be condemned to the private healthcare system.”

Stating that their demands as AHESEN are very clear, Kandemir said, “As those who actually do this work, a new regulation should be created together with NGOs. Both the personal rights of healthcare workers should be protected and the citizens' access to qualified healthcare services should be guaranteed. On March 14, Medicine Day, we will once again voice these demands loudly with a strike action for our professional dignity and the future of public health.”

News Source: 12punto