Row over ways to end violence against health workers continues
Elif Altın - ISTANBUL
As the problem of violence against healthcare workers remained persistent in 2021, experts are discussing ways to protect the personnel who are frequently being exposed to violence and workplace assault, mostly by the relatives of patients.
Assailants should be banned from receiving services from centers where they resorted to violence to prevent acts of violence against healthcare workers in Turkey, experts suggest, as many get away with simple punishments turned into fines.
Selahattin Par, a lawyer who specializes in health law, is of the opinion that the penalties for crimes against health professionals are far from being a deterrent.
He stated that the assailants do not receive the necessary punishment as they were mostly sentenced to judicial fines instead of jail time or the announcement of verdicts given against them are postponed by courts.
“Since these decisions will not have any consequences for the accused, it is perceived as impunity by both the perpetrator of the act of violence and the society,” Par noted, adding that an assailant must be sentenced with disciplinary imprisonment for 15 days without delaying execution.
Profesor Adem Akçakaya, the chairperson of the Physician Rights Platform, argues that those who perpetrate violence against healthcare workers should be detained for a certain period of time and that their detention period should be extended.
Akçakaya also underlined that the suspects should be banned from receiving services from the center where they resorted to violence.
The trend of violence made headlines again last week when a patient in need of urgent medical attention injures a physician by butting head for no reason at the Didim State Hospital in the Aegean province of Aydın.
