The statement released by TTB in response to President Tayyip Erdoğan making them a target said, “We will continue to speak up on every platform for the health of public and physicians.”
Turkish Medical Association’s (TTB) Central Council, made a written statement about President Erdoğan making them a target.
The statement emphasized that TTB, unlike the government, informs the citizens accurately and that in recent years the TTB has been targeted intentionally. The statement read “We would like to state that the Turkish Medical Association has always been on the side of the righteous and will continue to be so, not on the side of those who see themselves as powerful. Furthermore, those who see themselves powerful try to justify themselves everywhere, are receiving serious reaction, let alone support from the public.
In the statement it was said that, “The Turkish Medical Association is a professional and democratic public institution established under constitutional guarantee under article 6023, with over a membership of 100 thousand physicians. The TTB held its general assembly and elections between 26-27 September 2020; a new Central Council was elected by 67% of its member votes. Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a scientist working both at home and the international arena against torture, is the elected President of the Central Council. The fight against torture and the struggle for human rights, both indispensable for medicine, are not a shame but an honourable undertaking for every physician. This honourable attitude has always been and will be adopted by TTB and medical community.”
In the statement, it was claimed that the real reason for targeting TTB was because it was speaking the truth. Professor Fincancı will serve as the head of the Central Council of the TTB, which observes the attitudes and values of the physicians presently and as it has been in the past. "Like the previous ones, yesterday's statement is unfounded and does not reflect the facts, targeting a professional institution and the medical profession under constitutional guarantee." [President Erdogan recently said “How does a person who is involved in terrorism lead the TTB? Problems in professional organisations, especially in TTB, have reached an intolerable level," and called for the formation of “multiple bodies" rather than a single organisation for medical professionals, a change similar to the one made in the bar association.]
TTB statement went on to say that "Obviously, the main aim is to wear out and eliminate the organisation of the physicians that does not refrain from telling the truth for public health. Both physicians and the public of Turkey are aware of this. Today, as a result of policies that treat citizens as costumers and hospitals as businesses, the health sector in our country is on the brink of bankruptcy. Primarily the facts hidden during the pandemic, we face many problems such as increasing violations in education and health, shortages of medical/surgical equipment, long shifts at hospitals, excessive patient numbers, unsafe working conditions, burnout, economic problems, injustice and inequalities in the additional payment system." It was stated that if expressing these issues is political, "yes, we will do the politics for healthy individuals and healthy societies, that is the politics of "being healthy'."
“As TTB, we will not be drawn into pointless discussions. Those who want to speak to us should first give an account to the public for wrong Covid-19 data and the health crisis linked to the death rates from Covid-19. As physicians that have sworn to always fulfil the obligations of the medical profession, we will stand for the right to life and health of every living being. We will continue on our path, knowing that the right to health cannot be independent of the right to democracy. This is precisely why we will continue to reveal the destruction caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and continue provide the public with correct information based on scientific facts; our primary agenda is to provide information in line with their democratic and welfare rights. We will not stop advocating for suggestions to resolve problems experienced by physicians."
"Our agenda will be to explain the reports about city hospitals, clearly documented by 2020 Courts of Accounts, that reveal the truth we have exposed for years. Our agenda will be to expose the increasing exploitation of labour and our harsh working conditions. Our agenda will be to explain how exhausted we are getting every day. Our agenda will be to explain the violations in medical education, the problems in medical and assistant education. Our agenda will be to defend our professional dignity and ethical values, which are being destroyed day by day. Our agenda will be to present the problems faced by physicians from students to academics, family physicians to specialists, interns to assistants and our proposed solutions for them. We remind you once again: health is not only the absence of illness and disability, but also a state of complete wellbeing in physical, mental and social aspects. With this awareness, we will continue to speak on every platform for public health and physicians."
"As the elected members of the Central Committee of physicians and the struggle for the right to public health: we promise first and foremost to our colleagues and the public of Turkey to protect our health, labour and democracy on the land we live on, no matter what the cost is.” (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Hediye Levent
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir