The problems of healthcare workers, whose burdens have increased since the beginning of the pandemic, have also increased. Health and Social Services Workers (Sağlık-Sen) Syndicate presented the report ‘Manpower Employment in Health and Physicians' Problems’, which deals with the problems of healthcare workers who were declared heroes during the pandemic period. Problems and solutions were included in the report. Speaking at the presentation of the report, ‘Sağlık-Sen’ Syndicate Chairman Semih Durmuş stated that health workers are struggling with excessive workload, unfair wages, long working hours and violence.
“INSUFFICIENT EMPLOYMENT IS THE BASIS OF THE PROBLEMS”
Stating that healthcare professionals continue to work with a superhuman effort despite all the problems, Durmuş said, “Today, healthcare professionals, especially physicians, resign one by one, and there are significant problems in the delivery of healthcare services. The continuation of the problems and troubles entails significant risks for the future of Turkey's 'health system'. It is a well-known fact that employment inadequacy plays an important role on the basis of health workers' problems. When this problem is supported by the inadequacy and injustice of wages, it turns into an inextricable situation. On the other hand, health workers, especially physicians, find the solution by going to the private sector or abroad.”
“TURKEY'S HEALTH CAPACITY IS BELOW INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS”
Drawing attention to the lack of employment in the field of health, Durmuş drew attention to the numbers between Germany and Turkey, “I want to make a comparison with Germany, whose number of applications to a physician is almost the same as our country. The number of nurses and midwives in Germany is approximately 4,4 times higher than in Turkey, and the number of physicians is approximately 2,2 times higher. This means that nurses and midwives work 4,4 times more and physicians 2,2 times more in Turkey. The same is true for other healthcare professionals. In addition, our country ranks last among Europe Union (EU) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of the number of nurses and midwives. These data clearly shows that Turkey's current health personnel capacity is well below the international standards,” Durmuş added.
“POWER DID NOT TRY ENOUGH TO SOLVE PROBLEMS”
Durmuş pointing out that physicians, who are in the search because of the health professionals’ problems, tend to go to private hospitals or abroad, "It is not correct to evaluate this preference of physicians as ‘escape’. This is a result of the desire to work in better conditions and in a safer environment. We stated months, even years ago, that the situation would come to this point. Unfortunately, the problems were not dealt with decisively. At this point, we find the statements made by the Minister of Health, Fahrettin Koca, and the Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdag, at the ‘Legal Protection of Health Care Workers Symposium’, regarding the elimination of the problem of compensation due to violence and malpractice, meaningful and appropriate. We will carefully follow the process that turns into action rather than just words,” he said.
“MANPOWER IN HEALTH EMPLOYMENT SHOULD BE INCREASED”
Evaluating the data related to the report, Durmuş stated that healthcare professionals have many problems and mentioned the solutions for the problems.
“Taking into account Turkey's population status and service potential, employment of manpower in health should be increased. In order to increase the motivation and job satisfaction of health workers and to reduce the number of resignations, economic personnel rights and social rights should be strengthened to compete with the private sector. In order to reduce the increasing workload of the employees, the current operation should be comprehensively addressed and necessary interventions should be made. The performance system applied in the health facilities of the Ministry of Health still needs to be rehabilitated and rearranged,” Durmuş added.