Hospitals not prepared, doctors fear reporting coronavirus cases in Turkey

Number of coronavirus cases keep escalating in Turkey, but the government crackdown on the real information continues.

Since there is no trust in anything the government says or does, it is hard for people in Turkey to get any reliable news about the latest pandemic. For years, people have seen or heard unreliable news dictated by the government which now shows how dangerous things can get in times of a big public health crisis.

Turkey wants to downplay the number of coronavirus cases in the hopes of preventing a downfall on the number of expected tourists. However, since large scale privatizations made inroads to the country’s health care system and public health offices were closed, Turkey is completely unprepared to face a public health crisis as in effect now and the number of cases keep on growing.

Downplaying a pandemic is dangerous. Especially for political or economic reasons. However, Turkish authorities don’t seem to care.

Apart from preventing news of the disease from being given to the public, now doctors are fearing they may lose their jobs if they report the cases because they will be reporting against the government’s official position.

The Physicians’ Association of Mardin, a province in the southeast of Turkey, has reported that their doctors fear reporting cases of coronavirus because of government punishment.

Osman Sağlam, the head of the association criticized the Turkish government for not having testing facilities in every city of the country as well as lack of preparation for such a disease.

Sağlam underlined that the refugee crisis and migration will only contribute to the spread of diseases. He also reminded that since Turkey is involved in trucking or transportation with other means the close relationships with Iran, Iraq and other Turkic republics puts Turkey at a higher risk. Turks returning from pilgrimage also contribute to the spread, he said. He laid the blame for this much spread completely on the Ministry of Health and the Turkish government.

Currently there are 98 reported cases in Turkey with 1 death. However, this is only what is being reported.

Two days ago, ministry of interior reported that they had detained 19 people for spreading false information on their social media posts about the disease. Another 93 people are suspects of the same “crime.”

Sağlam said, “Look at what they are doing for those returning from pilgrimage. They just measure if people have a fever or not. This is not acceptable. The virus can be with a person for 14 days without any symptoms.”

The head of the Physicians Association of Mardin said a doctor had been forced to a paid leave because he diagnosed a patient as having the coronavirus. He added, “The health sector in Turkey in the last 20 years is a total fiasco. Currently the health system has completely collapsed. The policy is based on having testing facilities in only 3 cities and ignoring or denial of the pandemic. There are quite a few patients whose diagnosis are not being reported because the doctors fear the consequences. To tell you the truth, both the private and the public hospitals put pressure on the doctors.”

To stand up to the challenge, Sağlam proposed opening quarantine hospitals in each province. But he said, “Currently the Ministry of Health and the Health offices don’t allow this.”

The concerns of the doctors in Mardin were also repeated by the Diyarbakır doctors. The head of the Chamber of Doctors’ Association in Diyarbakır, Mehmet Şerif Demir, complained that the health professionals were denied protective garbs and gloves. He also reported that the hospitals in his region were not equipped to conduct any tests on the coronavirus disease. The samples taken from patients are being sent to the nation’s capital for testing. He demanded testing equipment and proper kits to conduct the tests locally.

Sendika.org News (M.B.)