DR. DERYA UĞUR
CHAIRWOMAN OF THE GENERAL UNION OF HEALTH WORKERS • TÜRKİYE
The severe economic crisis in our country and the inability of political leaders to govern has led to the collapse of our healthcare system and the exhaustion of healthcare workers. We are well aware that the situation we are experiencing today is not a coincidence, but rather the result of years of market-oriented policies.
In the present article, I will discuss the root causes of this serious situation in the healthcare sector and the policies that could lead to a real solution, that is, a way out of this crisis.
Despite heavy tax burdens, our country is increasingly unable to provide public health services to its citizens. Taxpaying citizens hope to enjoy the healthcare rights guaranteed by the Constitution, yet what they discover is no longer a public system, but private structures driven by profit. Healthcare has been stripped of its status as a social right and handed over to the market.
Nowadays, citizens cannot even access the most basic healthcare services, even getting an appointment has become a huge struggle. Healthcare workers are being pushed to exhaustion by a spiral of economic hardship, harassment, and insecurity. Vital medicines and treatments are beyond the state’s financial support’s scope, while the concept of fee-for-service healthcare takes hold.
Public institutions and organizations that provide healthcare services have been systematically weakened by years of misguided policies. The model marketed under the name “Health Transformation Program” is, in reality, the liquidation of the public health system. Public hospitals have been neglected, staff shortages ignored.
Public hospitals, once easily accessible to all citizens, have been replaced by huge buildings moved to the out skirts of cities. These structures, called “Urban Hospitals,” were not planned to meet public needs, but to transfer profits to capital. The number of patients guaranteed to partners has taken precedence over citizens’ right to health. This approach has mobilized public resources not for the people, but for capital.
The opening of the healthcare sector to the market has cheapened the work of healthcare professionals and devalued their profession. Lack of skills and insecurity prevail in public institutions. The pressure on workers to perform, the deprivation of their personal rights, and the constant lack of supervision are another side of the decline of the healthcare system.
At the point we have reached today, the privatization of healthcare is not just an economic choice, but a political orientation.
• Transferring public property to capital is stealing from the population.
• The commodification of healthcare is a violation of human rights.
• Eliminating public supervision is complicity in a social crime.
• The privatization of healthcare is a disease that has spread through the veins of this country. This disease can only be cured by returning to a way, which is oriented towards the public interest.
FOR A PUBLIC,
PEOPLE-CENTERED AND
EQUITABLE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM:
The solution to the problems identified above lies in reestablishing a public, people-centered, and equitable healthcare system, defending the Republic and the Republican Revolutions.
In this context:
• Policies that commercialize healthcare must be ended; the national, public, and people-oriented healthcare policies initiated by Atatürk must be reimplemented.
• The harsh and precarious working conditions of healthcare workers must be rectified immediately.
• Zero tolerance for violence in healthcare must be established, and an effective and enforceable law against violence in healthcare must be enacted urgently.
• Practices that disrupt labor peace and victimize healthcare workers, such as fixed payments, performance-based wages, and incentives, must be eradicated.Salaries must be increased in a single payment, so that they are reflected in retirement pensions, above the poverty line and gradually according to staff category.
• The shortage of staff must be addressed and a sufficient number of healthcare workers must be hired.
• Equality is fundamental! Everyone must be guaranteed equal, free, accessible, and high-quality healthcare services.
• Sufficient public resources must be allocated to healthcare services; preventive healthcare services must be prioritized in budget planning.
• The epidemiological structure must be taken into account in the healthcare system, and health protection and promotion services must be planned.
• Planning must be based on social needs, not on stimulated demand for medical care.
• Primary care services must be strengthened and an effective referral chain must be created.
• Maternal and child health services, adolescent health services, and preventive medical care must be expanded.
• Science-based training policies for health personnel must be implemented.
• Domestic production of medical devices and medicines must be promoted, and human resources in this field must be trained.
• Food security and a healthy environment are integral parts of public health. The games played by global capital in these areas must not be tolerated.
• The participation of workers‘ and professional organizations in the determination of health policies must be guaranteed.
• Public health policies that protect workers, science, and the population must be implemented immediately.
