The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received the physicians at Beştepe National Culture and Congress Center on the occasion of the Medicine Day. Concerning the retirement and fatigue of the healthcare professionals, H.E. President said that the fatigue and retirement issues of all healthcare professionals were discussed with the Prime Minister H.E. Binali Yıldırım and included in the government program.
Starting his speech by saluting all healthcare professionals and celebrating the 14 March – Medicine Day, H.E. Erdoğan stated that “We said on the Women’s Day that 8 March is not the only day attributed to women and 365 days are women’s day and mother’s day for us. And for the Medicine Day, I would say that every moment is the Medicine Day. Because it is not certain when and where we will need a doctor. So every moment is the Medicine Day.”
Addressing to the physicians, H.E. Erdoğan said that “It is not possible to forgive those who lay a hand on you. They are no different from the terrorist. We consider them in the same position as the terrorists.”
Underlining that healthcare professionals are the main reasons of the achievements in the field of health, H.E. Erdoğan added that “Buildings or equipment mean nothing unless there are humans. That is why we increased the number of the medical schools considerably. We aim to settle the problem of human resources including physicians, nurses and healthcare staff. And it will not be restricted to Turkey; we will elect and assign the successful persons to receive post-graduate trainings all around the world. However, it is essential that they come back and serve in Turkey.”
H.E. Erdoğan mentioned about the construction of new modern hospitals and underlined that it would continue at a faster pace. The Turkish President also thanked to the physicians and healthcare professionals who are the real architect of the achievements in the field of health.
Good news to healthcare professionals
H.E. President Erdoğan shared the good news and stated that: “I shared with the Prime Minister the issue of fatigue among healthcare professionals. Our Government is currently working on a program to address this issue. Furthermore, problems related to retirement is on the agenda of our Government. I hope, we will achieve good results as soon as possible.
Minister of Health Demircan: “We condemn violence against health professionals and consider it as an act against us.”
During his speech, Dr. Ahmet Demircan, Minister of Health celebrated the 14 March-Medicine Day of healthcare professionals and added that 14 March-Medicine Day is a national day which has been celebrated for 99 years.
Recalling attacks to healthcare professionals, Demircan highlighted that “we condemn violence against healthcare professionals, we take it as an attack on us. We will keep on taking more effective and structural measures.”
Minister Demircan declared that when it came to continuation of the nation and the country, none of the healthcare professionals would consider this greater goal as “a matter of public health problem. “So far, none of the healthcare professionals has considered this as ‘a matter of public health problem’, when we speak about defending our country and the greater good of our people. Questioning the decision of the national will in order for defending our country against terror is defeatism.”
Demircan underlined that our healthcare professionals competed each other to become a volunteer to serve in frontlines, just like our wounded soldiers who rushed back to battlefield as soon as they recovered. “We see this sprit in 112 professional who carries the father of our martyr in his arms; in our nurse who helps a sick baby that cannot sleep and, in our physicians who donate blood to their patients that they will operate. We observe this very spirit among each and every one of 650 thousand healthcare professionals.” said Demircan.
At the closing, Minister of Health Dr. Ahmet Demircan presented H.E. President Erdoğan a custom design which carries “the crescent and the star” representing the Turkish flag, “the stethoscope” representing the physicians and “the olive branch” representing peace.
