There is discrimination in healthcare in quake zone, TTB chair says

Şirin Bayık / DUVAR

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) chair Şebnem Korur Fincancı has visited quake-stricken Adıyaman province to observe medical help efforts.

Fincancı said survivors cannot reach hospitals as they had been constructed outside the city center, adding they established a unit to help pregnant women in the quake zone.

Moreover, Fincancı stated quake-victim health workers are forced to work excessively in Adıyaman province. 

“The governors appointed here from other provinces and state officials force the earthquake-victim physicians and health workers to work. We have warned them many times, but this continues. In fact, health workers’ shifts reach up to 160 hours. People don't have their own homes yet. There are no shelters. They have lost their relatives. But they are still forced to work,” Fincancı stated.

Fincancı also criticized the state's post-quake management, saying “The state was not prepared at all.”

“The medical search and rescue teams were not here in time. Since there was not a health worker, it was not possible to determine what kind of health problem survivors had and what kind of health service they needed,” she added.

Drawing attention to the discrimination experienced in quake-hit provinces, Fincancı said the authorities provided extra healthcare service in districts that previously voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“However, we have seen that there is no such extra service in multilingual and multicultural areas of Hatay, İskenderun, Samandağ and Antakya," she noted.

(English version by Alperen Şen)