Medical workers complete two-day strike as Koca vows to end hospital violence

ANKARA

More than 100,000 health care workers have completed their two-day-long work stoppage, while Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has pledged to enhance a series of measures called the "White Reform" to end violence in hospitals and improve working conditions.

On Aug. 1 and 2, many health care professionals, mostly doctors, walked off their jobs in a recent move organized by the HEKİM-SEN union and 21 NGOs aiming to draw attention to the increasing violence against health care workers, which sometimes resulted in deaths and serious injuries, and to demand better working conditions.

Speaking at a demonstration outside of the Kocaeli University Medical Faculty, Dr. Elif Genç noted their fight is not only for themselves but also for citizens seeking high-quality healthcare services.

“At a time when it is not possible to enter shopping centers even with nail clippers, people with guns and knives can enter the polyclinics and the emergency services. We are trying to provide health services in the shadow of violence,” Genç said.

Sending a letter to all health care workers, Koca expressed his commitment to elevate the prestige of health care professionals and improve working conditions comprehensively through the "White Reform."

“The government is mobilizing all available resources and creating new opportunities to achieve results and find solutions together. The second phase of the White Reform focuses on more effective measures against violence in health care, increasing payments and protecting rights against inflation,” Koca said.

Koca also stressed that his ministry will soon launch the "Action Plan Against Violence in Healthcare," which will impose a new system that can be activated in response to potential risks, operating in collaboration with police stations.

Additionally, they plan to increase the number of police and security personnel in hospitals.