Doctors’ union strike against gov’t bill participated by 1 pct

Under the slogan “Full day protest and action against full day [bill],” the protest was participated in by members of 11 health organizations in order to voice objections to wages and working hours.

Speaking to reporters before a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s health minister in Ankara yesterday, Health Minister Recep Akdağ said the strike against the government bill was not a protest by all doctors across the nation, but a protest by the TTB. While noting that at most 1 percent of all doctors in Turkey had joined the strike, Akdağ said, “We have about 110,000 doctors in Turkey. The attempt to call a strike [by the TTB] was possibly not even attended by 1 percent of them.”

Health sector organizations argue that the bill forces doctors to work 24/7, which, in turn, jeopardizes patients’ health. Asking for an upper limit to be determined for doctors’ working hours, doctors are demanding the assurance of working a 56-hour week at most.

Speaking at a press conference held at the TTB General Council on Monday in Ankara, TTB Secretary-General Eriş Bilaloğlu said the TTB and other health sector civil society organizations will go on a 24-hour strike to demonstrate for the rights of doctors.

Radiology Technicians’ Association Chairman Heybet Aslanoğlu said the risk of their technicians developing cancer had also been increased by a rise in working hours from 25 to 35 in a week. He noted that the protest would continue periodically unless the bill is withdrawn.

Bilaloğlu also stated at a press conference last week their demands for more reasonable working hours for doctors and a guarantee of salary increases. He highlighted the impossibility of doctors earning a monthly salary of TL 17,000, as the Health Ministry had declared, claiming that a doctor would have to work 20 hours a day to achieve this.

Claiming that the bill aims to cheapen the labor of doctors, TTB Vice President Feride Aksu said at an Ankara meeting yesterday that doctors must be paid enough to secure their future.

Speaking at the same meeting, Ankara Doctors Association Chairperson Gülriz Ersöz said the bill would negatively affect patients’ safety and the future of medical education.

Besides noting that they would not take part in the strike called by the TTB, Doctors’ Rights Association Chairman Mehmet Bakar told reporters on Monday that the bill is filled with “unfortunate” statements and bases all health sector-related problems on the doctors’ half-time working system.

Currently, top doctors at university hospitals frequently work half days at the hospitals and half days at their own private clinics where they earn the bulk of their income. Under the new bill, doctors employed by the Health Ministry, at university or state hospitals, for example, would be required to work full time in these posts. To accompany the new Full Workday Law, the government is planning to reintroduce a law vetoed in 2007 by then-President Ahmet Necdet Sezer that would allow foreign doctors to practice in Turkey.

The Full Workday Law prohibits doctors working at public institutions from working at their own private practices or those of other private institutions. It also introduces a performance evaluation system for faculty members who work at university hospitals, to match the system currently in place at state hospitals. While it foresees a partial rise in overtime rates, it prohibits medical school faculty members from working at private institutions. It does, however, pave the way for members of medical school faculties to work at other public hospitals under the Health Ministry. The enacting of the bill would also mean that university hospitals would no longer be able to charge patients extra fees for certain procedures and surgeries. The bill would in addition outlaw the practice of allowing faculty members to work at foundations and associations.

Eighty-one percent of doctors working at Health Ministry hospitals are currently working full time, and this percentage is likely to increase to 95 percent with the new law.

While the bill is hailed by some as an important step in addressing Turkey’s shortage of doctors, some, including doctors, oppose the bill on the grounds that it forces doctors to work overtime and say that operating a clinic is a doctor’s right.