Five Turkish health unions representing more than 250.000 health workers, doctors and other health workers went on a one-day strike today, protesting against low wages and adverse working conditions amid the collapse of the Turkish pound.
Hundreds of health workers, including doctors, nurses, medical staff and laboratory assistants, gathered in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, to demand the resignation of the government.
Health workers from all 81 provinces of Turkey took part in the strike, according to the sector's largest union, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB).
Turkey has recently recorded about 20.000 new infections COVID-19 and 180 deaths daily, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who said on Saturday that six Omicron-type infections had been reported in Turkey.
The demands
"We want to live and help others live", "free and equal health care for all" and "We can not breathe", were some of the slogans shouted by protesters in Istanbul.
Health officials say how difficult it is to cope as inflation gallops, with the pound losing half its value against the dollar this year.
"The Ministry of Health does not keep its promises. We are asking for a wage increase corresponding to inflation, at least. "We want the coronavirus to be recognized as an occupational disease," said Aydin Erol, a laboratory worker who took part in the protest.
TTB says health workers are in despair over the government's management of the coronavirus pandemic, lack of transparency in data on infections and deaths due to COVID-19 and health protection measures.
Many health professionals wanted to leave the country because of low wages, long working hours and the risk of violence, the union said. More than 100.000 doctors have been victims of physical and verbal violence in the past 11 years and at least 10 have been killed by patients, he said.
"The government is doing nothing to stop the violence against the health workers. "We do not feel safe in hospitals," said a doctor who took part in the protest, saying his colleagues were looking for ways to go abroad.
"The strikes will continue, the resignations from public hospitals will increase," he said.
in.gr