ANKARA - SES Co-Chairperson Gönül Erden stated that Kovid-19 epidemic process could not be overcome with the number of employees, current workload and working conditions, and that thousands of health workers that have been discharged with law decrees.
With the increase in the number of patients diagnosed with koravirus (Kovid-19), the workload of health workers began to increase. According to the 2018 Health Statistics Yearbook published by the Ministry of Health General Directorate of Health Information Systems, the number of doctors working in state, private and university hospitals is 153 thousand 128. The total number of staff is 1 million 16 thousand 401.
Gönül Erden, Co-Chair of the Health and Social Workers 'Union (SES), evaluated the health workers' situation and measures taken in the field of health. Stating that the coronavirus effect is tried to be eliminated with new circulars every day, but preparations in the field of health have started late, Erden said: "Preparations are insufficient, therefore, there are serious problems in health institutions. For example, the hospital emergency action plan was published too late."
Erden stating that the virus is on the agenda of the world since December 2019, said Turkey did not have to wait until march to take precautions. Erden said: "If measures had been taken earlier, the hospitals would not be in this condition right now."
Noting that there is a serious lack of employees in the field of health, Erden drew attention to the difficulty of the workload caused by the epidemic. Erden reminded the World Health Organization's (WHO) suggestions for healthcare workers, and said: "Shorten working hours, extend break times, cancel 24-hour on call time, terminate overwork, give off time to help healthcare workers to rest." But this is not possible with this lack of staff."
Erden who suggestion a solution to this problem said: "Scores of health care workers were dismissed with law decrees unlawfully. They must all be reinstated. There are lots of health care professionals waiting for security clearance. They must all be assigned or reinstated. This is how we solve the work load problem. We want to manage this process stronger. Without doing all these, we cannot handle this virus."
MA / Zemo Ağgöz