Relative of patient attacks doctor in Turkey

ŞANLIURFA

Selami Balcı, the Şanlıurfa branch head of Türk Sağlık-Sen. AA Photo

A doctor allegedly suffered an attack by a relative of a patient in the southeastern Turkish province of Şanlıurfa on Feb. 9, a local health organization said.

Selami Balcı, the Şanlıurfa branch head of Türk Sağlık-Sen, a Turkish health workers group, told Anatolia news agency that Dr. Oğuzhan Demir had suffered blows on his neck and shoulders.

“A relative of a patient in the emergency room approached the doctor when he was prescribing medicines and asked, ‘Why don’t you pay attention to us?’ and started to attack,” Balcı said.

Balcı added that Demir was in good condition, but the doctor’s morale had been “damaged.” The alleged assailant was detained, Anatolia news agency reported.

The group made a statement condemning the attack, which came amid a string of attacks on health workers.

“Beating doctors is exclusively frequent in Turkey,” Demir said. “We should do whatever we can in order to prevent this.”

Çukurova University Medicine Faculty deputy chief of medicine Rıza Dinçer Yıldızdaş said the necessary measures should be taken for the protection of health workers.

“The health policy causes relatives of patients [to think] that they have the right to do everything [to health workers],” Yıldızdaş told Doğan news agency. “But on the other hand, health workers should be given psychological education as well. If we can put ourselves in [patients’] shoes, we will know how to treat them.”

Yıldızdaş added that there had been 10 attacks on health workers in the last six months at Çukurova University Hospital, which is the leading health care service center in the south of the country.