Doctors to be better protected

KÜTAHYA - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s Health Ministry has begun working with the Justice Ministry to enact a new measure to prevent assailants who repeatedly assault health workers from being released pending trial, Health Minister Recep Akdağ said yesterday.

“I will meet with the HSYK [Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors] if necessary. … We are going to take many more measures. Measures against violence are going to follow one after the other within the next month with respect to both our citizens and health workers,” Akdağ said while he was on a visit to the inner Aegean province of Kütahya.

Health workers who have been subjected to violence feel reluctant to complain to the authorities due to a fear of reprisals, Akdağ said, adding that they would show no tolerance toward “sick-minded” people who attack medical professionals whose duty is to save lives. “We had taken some measures against [acts of] violence toward health workers in the past. The recent rise in public [awareness] on this matter, however, has rendered it possible for us to implement [these] measures more rapidly,” he added.