Medicine Day, an occasion exclusive to Turkey and dedicated to health care workers, was marked on Monday. It is the third year they celebrated the day under the shadow of COVID-19.

Although the pandemic has largely receded, with the daily number of cases below 18,000, it remains the most immediate threat for doctors, nurses, paramedics and other personnel at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus. They do not complain much in their fight, but violence against health care workers is another alarming issue for them. Cases of violence in the hands of patients, families or friends of patients drive up the level of risk, amid calls from health care workers’ unions for better measures to protect them.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended a Medicine Day event at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara where he hosted health care staff from around the country. After praising the revered profession, the president acknowledged Turkey's shortcomings for circumstances regarding the health care sectors, before proceeding with announcing new improvements for them. "We always strived to provide a better working environment for our physicians, and we believe Turkey should utilize the full potential of each physician it educated. There may be some people in the health care sector whose heart yearns for working abroad. But I have no doubt that they would be back in their country in the near future," Erdoğan said, referring to the migration of some Turkish doctors, especially to European countries, in pursuit of jobs.

The first "good news" for health care workers Erdoğan announced was on violence, which plagues the sector. "A new regulation is underway that will resolve the problem of attacks against health care workers. The crime of deliberate injury toward health care workers will be punished based on the profession of the victim, instead of being treated as a general crime, and hence, harsher sentences will be handed down to people convicted of deliberate injury of physicians and other health care staff. Erdoğan said the crime would also be treated as "prevention of access to a public service," and the sentences could be further increased in that context.

Health care workers will also be less burdened with legal proceedings in relation to their work in the cases of allegations of medical malpractice. Erdoğan said an Occupational Responsibility Board would be formed and would be solely tasked with handling such cases, instead of lengthy legal procedures. The board will be authorized to approve inquiries on medical professionals in issues related to treatment or diagnosis.

The payment system for health care staff will also undergo an overhaul, Erdoğan said. The president said each health care personnel will be handed a fixed additional payment and each would see a rise in the payments they receive from the capital of health institutions they worked at.

All health care personnel will also receive permanent raises in their pensions, Erdoğan announced at the event, while basic wages paid to family physicians (general practitioners working at small public clinics in each neighborhood) would be raised.

Erdoğan also delivered awards to health care personnel for their outstanding service during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the head of a local health authority in Istanbul's Fatih district to a nurse working in the western province of Balıkesir, to prominent doctors working at Ankara City Hospital.

COVID-19 impact

Mustafa Akçalı, a doctor for 26 years, laments that they cannot mark their day with "music and joy" as they have to work to help coronavirus patients. Akçalı is in charge of the intensive care unit for newborns at Mersin City Hospital in the eponymous Turkish Mediterranean province. "Medicine Day is a bittersweet occasion for us. We are working to help others. All my colleagues have to work as their duty is important in this time of the pandemic. Even after our shift ends, we have to keep our phones open so we can go back to work if the need arises," he told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Sunday.

Gamze Gökulu, a doctor in charge of the emergency room for child patients at the same hospital, said they went through a very difficult and exhausting process during the past two years. "We lost our colleagues to COVID-19, but we keep our hope that it will end someday. I hope things will be better," Gökulu, who works during Medicine Day, said. Filiz Zengin, a nurse who was infected with the coronavirus three times and recovered, is not daunted in the face of the deadly infection. Zengin, who is in charge of neurology, nephrology and physiotherapy clinics at Mersin City Hospital, said they have been through "days of fear" and experienced "devastating emotions." "I remember the past when we would make preparations to hold Medicine Day events days in advance. I remember a time when we would hug each other freely. All is over now. We have to keep our distance. It is a sad occasion for us," she said.

Violence persists

Health care workers are also often targets of violence, which has increased in recent years. A report by the Union of Health Care and Social Service Workers (Sağlık-Sen) shows 190 cases of violence were reported last year across the country. Some were well-documented cases, such as doctors and nurses barricading themselves in a hospital room in the capital Ankara when an angry crowd, relatives of a patient who died at the hospital, tried to storm in and assault them.

Devlet Sert, chair of Öz Sağlık-Iş, a health care workers union, said violence against health care workers increased because of "lack of deterrent sentences for perpetrators and loopholes in laws." Sert said in a written statement on the occasion of Medicine Day they could not properly do their jobs due to violence. He underlined that not only doctors and nurses but all the staff working at health institutions, from hospitals to small clinics, from cleaners to technicians, constantly faced the risk of violent outbursts. "Health care workers are victims of all types of violence, from gun attacks to stabbing to beating," he complained. He cited a survey the union conducted with 8,000 health care workers last year and said 67% of interviewed personnel have been subject to at least one instance of violence while on duty, and the majority of cases of violence were committed by relatives or friends of patients.

Members of some health care unions went on a three-day strike starting on Medicine Day, while others decided to stop working for two days, on March 14-15. All health services by union members and health care workers joining the strike, except emergency cases, were suspended as unions sought better working conditions. They call for an increase in salaries, implementation of a law exclusive to violence toward health care workers and improvement of pensions for doctors. They also seek the classification of COVID-19 as an occupational disease regardless of health care workers’ position, whether they work at COVID-19 wards or not. A previous two-day strike was also held in February.