RIHA - Drawing attention to the problems faced by healthcare professionals, Riha Medical Chamber Secretary General Fırat Erkmen said: "Important professional problems such as mobbing and violence lead physicians to burnout. We are exhausted, enough is enough."

 

Riha Medical Chamber made a press statement in front of Urfa Training and Research Hospital Pediatric Emergency Polyclinic regarding the harsh working conditions of healthcare workers and the loss of rights they are exposed to. The statement was supported by Health and Social Service Workers (SES) Branch, People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), former HDP MP Ayşe Sürücü and Riha Labor and Democracy Platform executives.

 

Riha Medical Chamber Secretary General Fırat Erkmen, who spoke at the opening of the banner "We do not accept heavy working conditions. We are burning out", said that they have been following the increasing number of physician suicides across the country with concern lately and that they are worried about their increase.

 

'ONE PATIENT EVERY 15 SECONDS'

 

Pointing out that the loss of rights and pressure that healthcare workers are exposed to has increased recently, Erkmen said: "Important professional problems such as mobbing and violence lead physicians to burnout. Consider, there are 5 and 5 thousand applications a day to the emergency services we are in, including approximately two thousand children. This figure requires caring for 4 patients in 1 minute, that is, one patient in 15 seconds."

 

EMERGENCY SERVICES

 

Recalling the words of the Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, "80 percent of the applications to the emergency department are not urgent." Erkmen said: "80 percent of those who apply to the emergency department come to the emergency department even though they do not have a disease that requires treatment in the emergency department. Especially newly graduated young doctors are faced with this patient load and trying to cope with thousands of patients and their relatives. We ask you; can you imagine the stress of saving a person's life in such an environment? Can you understand working in this intensity with the risk of missing an urgent and vital situation such as a heart attack or brain hemorrhage? Can you feel what it is like to work in emergency departments without even having the opportunity to drink water, but with the risk of being exposed to violence and attack at any time? Have you ever worked for 18 hours, resting for a maximum of 5-6 hours in 24 hours? Examining patients, their relatives, the emergency room, etc. Never mind the examination, can you wish good luck to a thousand people a day?" 

 

CALL TO THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH

 

According to the Ministry of Health data; There were 466 million examinations in 2022 and 185 million emergency applications in 2023, Erkmen said: "With problems such as an environment of violence, economic crisis, unsympathetic managers, malpractice cases and complaint lines, this situation creates an inextricable situation for young doctors and leads to burnout. In every field of the healthcare system, doctors perform their duties in an unhappy and hopeless manner. We would like to remind them once again that it is the responsibility and duty of the Ministry of Health to reduce this burden on young doctors, improve their working conditions, and provide an environment suitable for professional dignity."

 

'HEALTH WORKERS ARE NOT SLAVES'

 

SES Riha Branch Co-chair Ferhat Demir stated that hospitals, which are their workplaces, have exhausted themselves and said: “We do not want to die anymore. The health system collapsed. We are fighting to change this system. Healthcare workers are not slaves, hospitals are not factories. We will change this order. We promise to expand the struggle."