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In this week’s recap:
Health care scandal rocks Turkey
Peace process updates
AKP and MHP deny spat allegations
US sanctions Hamas figures in Turkey
Domestic and diplomatic wraps
World’s smallest rain storm hits Adana
Also from us this week:
Nimet Kıraç reports on the new ‘Kudish opening’, as seen by Turkey’s peace academics
Azra Ceylan interviews Hacı Halil Uslucan on how anti-migrant sentiments impact Turkey-origin nationals Germany (in Turkish only)
Turkey has been rocked by a scandal implicating the health care sector, deepening public distrust in state oversight and inciting a general sense of grief.
On Monday, the trial of the “newborn gang” began in İstanbul. Since then, the public has been fed a trickle of details about how doctors, nurses, an ambulance driver and emergency dispatcher allegedly conspired to conduct intentional medical malpractice on newborn children for profit.
Describing the group as a “criminal organization”, the Bakırköy Prosecutor's Office accused 47 defendants of killing at least 10 babies in a scheme designed to defraud Turkey’s social security system. Dr. Fırat Sarı, the main defendant, faces up to 583 years in prison and denies the charges.
In short, the Turkish state covers emergency newborn care costs. The “newborn gang” allegedly coordinated to place babies in select private hospitals, where associates then falsified records to place the newborns in intensive care units (ICU) or provide inappropriate treatments.
Under the scheme, some unhealthy babies were denied treatments to prolong their ICU stays, while some healthy babies were given harmful medicines or starved in order to place them in ICUs. The group billed the state for the “treatments” and then shared the profits. Their actions left some babies with life-long ailments.
It remains unclear how long the group has been active. After the scandal emerged this fall, at least 350 families petitioned prosecutors for investigations into the deaths of their loved ones. Additionally, the operating licenses of nine hospitals have been revoked, as other hospitals remain under investigation for alleged involvement.
Speaking in parliament Wednesday, Turkish Health Min. Kemal Memişoğlu said authorities worked “to dismantle this gang”, and defined public blowback from the scandal as a “ruthless campaign against us."
Previously, Pres. Erdoğan said he was closely following the case and warned critics not to place all the blame on the country’s health care system.
“We will not allow our health care community to be battered because of a few rotten apples,” Erdoğan said.
The AKP is widely seen as having created Turkey’s modern health care system, meaning its flaws also tend to be pinned on the party and its close circles. Like all high profile trials, the “newborn gang” case has spawned many conspiracies. One theory repeated by sources in parliament is this trial represents the MHP’s retribution for the AKP’s handling of the Sinan Ateş murder trial.
The claim stems from the MHP ties of Public Prosecutor Yavuz Engin, who brought charges against the “newborn gang” and leaked a video recording of group members threatening him to drop the investigation.
More broadly, the trial has drawn calls for change in Turkey’s health care system, which has become increasingly privatized under AKP rule, according to Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, a prominent human rights activist and forensic expert.
She said the national budget has incrementally favored treatment over preventative care, incentivizing for-profit models without sufficient oversight.
“With the lack of democracy and the instrumentalization of the judiciary, the lack of fair trials – this all leads to mobs operating within the system,” Fincancı told Turkey recap. “There is no transparency at all.”
Asked if she was surprised by the “newborn gang” scandal, Fincancı responded:
“How can I be surprised? This happened because we know that there’s no proper monitoring in the system. We have increased [central] government expenditures without the inclusion of civil society organizations, trade unions and even local government monitors.”
– Diego Cupolo
Peace to begin: Peace process updates
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