Several chest disease specialists have recently resigned from their posts in the research hospital in Antalya, which served as a pandemic hospital. Authorities have been arguing that lots of specialists tend to quit their jobs due to mismanagement and indifference towards their requests.
Prof. Dr. Nursel Şahin, the chair of the Antalya Medical Chamber made a statement to soL news regarding the issue. Şahin mentioned that the medical personnel would go on with their work if they did not have to face the hardships of the pandemic alone and their needs were met.
Marking that all medics are exhausted causing resignations from all over Turkey, Şahin stated that these doctors are at the forefront of the struggle against the pandemic, but mostly alone in face of the disease and the workload. She added that even though they get close to controlling the virus, the insufficient measures force the doctors to take it from the top which breaks them in terms of motivation and morale.
Reminding the fact that the pandemic is deeply mismanaged, the president remarked that social health proceedings should have been better handled, transparent, and controllable. She also underlined that healthcare professionals should have seen that all their efforts did not go in vain to get motivated. Yet the authorities keep the numbers secret and health workers still lack individual protective gear. She also added that since the workload keeps increasing which exhausts the doctors.
Şahin reminded the fact that the Covid-19 did not count as an occupational disease in Turkish legislation, which breaks the confidence of the professionals for a secure future for their beloved ones.
The president of the chamber also underlined that health care professionals should be enabled to attend the decision-making process on pandemic measures. She reminded that the unions and chambers are left out of the context as well as the doctors that are kept away from the methodological models of their own hospitals without their voices heard.
Şahin emphasized that the resignations should be taken into consideration with respect to the mentioned facts. She also stated that there is a great need for each doctor in this process and the problems are manageable if the requests of health care professionals are met.
