Top medial association to hold week-long protest to draw attention to 'exhausted' healthcare staff

Duvar English

The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) will between Sept. 14-18 hold various demonstrations to draw attention to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases throughout Turkey as well as the increasing number of healthcare staff who succumbed to the virus.

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The TTB called on its members to participate in these demonstrations which will include wearing black ribbon, holding social media campaigns, putting up posters outside hospitals, holding a one-person march and observing a minute's silence.

“As the TTB, we are declaring Sept. 14-18 as the week of 'You cannot manage [the virus], we are exhausted' for the sensitivity and precautions for the COVID-19 to be increased,” the TTB said in a statement on Sept. 14.

“We will every day, but every day remind those of their historical responsibility who offload the blame on citizens and the burden on doctors and healthcare staff” the TTB said.

The aim of the demonstrations is to “make the perilous results of the 're-normalization' policy of the government launched in June to be visible,” “to reflect the situation of doctors and medical staff who are on the front-line of the battle against COVID-19” and “to remind authorities of their responsibilities once again,” the TTB said.

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As of Sept. 15, doctors from every provincial TTB chapter will hold hold a march between 5.30 p.m. - 8 p.m. local time every day, but these marches will include only one person. The marching doctors will be each assigned to a different road path but will finish off their march at the same place, paying attention to social distancing measures.

Turkey’s daily toll for patients infected with the COVID-19 in the last few days has reached similar figures last recorded in May. The infections have begun to spike on a daily basis after falling to as low as 902 on July 22.

Turkey registers 1,716 new COVID-19 cases, 63 new fatalities from virus

Meanwhile, Turkey reported 1,716 more cases of the COVID-19 and 1,225 recoveries on Sept. 14. "There is no slowing down in the transmission rate of the disease," Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.

The country's overall infection count now stands at 292,878, including 260,058 recoveries, according to the Health Ministry’s data. The death toll from pandemic in Turkey rose to 7,119, with 63 new fatalities reported.

A total of 112,563 more coronavirus tests were conducted over the past 24 hours, pushing the total up to over 8.63 million. The number of patients in critical condition now stands at 1,301, the data showed.

"We cannot fight one by one, but together we can win," Koca said, and urged people to follow the protective measures to fight the virus in unity.

Of those infected, 7.1 percent suffer from pneumonia, showed the ministry figures.