Many Turkish doctors want to leave their country. President Erdogan is trying to stop the trend – too late?
Ankara – More and more doctors are leaving Türkiye. According to the Turkish Doctors’ Association TTB (Türk Tabipleri Birliği), 1064 doctors applied for their so-called certificate of good conduct in the first eight months of the year. You can then work abroad with the paper. 315 applications were made for the first time in August alone – a current record. The TTB is angry and also gives the reasons.
“Against the government’s exacerbated poverty, desperation and escalating violence, it’s time to say, ‘The work is ours, we call the shots’ to stand up for our rights again,” she said Doctors’ Association on the short message service X (formerly Twitter) with. In the past few months it has happened again and again Doctors’ protests in Turkey.
Doctors salaries are below the poverty line
Apparently, many doctors can hardly support their families on their own with their salaries. This is also confirmed by the internet platform “academic staff“.
residents | 27,850 TL per month |
practicing doctors | 32,500 TL per month |
medical specialists | 37.162 TL |
Family doctors (general practitioners) | 38,500 TL per month |
Doctors Lecturers | 38,500 TL per month |
surgeons | 47,500 TL |
The various doctors’ salaries are in most cases below the so-called “poverty line” of 39,886 TL. This means the money needed to support a family of four, including food, housing and energy costs. In view of the economic crisis and mega-inflation, it is only a matter of time before surgeons fall below the poverty line, because it is being set ever higher.
violence against doctors
Again and again doctors are victims of violence. A lack of staff and long waiting times in the hospitals lead to tantrums in the patients and their families, which unleashes on the health workers.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced more security personnel in the hospitals. In addition, an early warning system called “Code Grau” is to be introduced. This informs both the security staff and the police. “Our goal with the system is to prevent violence before it occurs, you can see it as an early warning system,” Koca said in his statement on the new measures.
“If they want to go, they should go”
Over the past few years, the doctors have repeatedly drawn attention to their poor working conditions and called for improvements. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t seem to care. “If you want to go, then you should go. Then we will continue the work with newly trained doctors,” he said in a speech in front of the cameras last year. In the meantime, however, the powerful man has backtracked and commissioned a commercial. It promotes the return of Turkish doctors from abroad. “I invite you to return to your country,” says Erdogan there.
human rights abuses and autocracy
But it is not only because of the working conditions and poor pay that Turkish doctors are turning their backs on their homeland, but also because of increasing autocracy. After the attempted coup in 2016, thousands of doctors and scientists were dismissed. Many were also arrested. In the so-called rule of law index of the non-governmental organization “World Justice Project”, Turkey is ranked 116th out of 140 countries. The country is regularly criticized by human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for its massive violations of human rights.
#money #patients #violence