Health workers on strike against violence
NEWS DESK (DİHA) - Doctors and health workers went on a nationwide strike for one day on June 1, as the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and Health and Social Service Workers Union (SES) announced late last week it was calling all its member doctors to go on a strike to protest the killing of Kamil Furtun, a thoracic surgeon who was shot dead while on duty on May 29 in a public hospital in the Black Sea province of Samsun.
In the Samsun Thoracic Diseases and Surgery Hospital, where Furtun, 56, had been working, his colleagues stopped serving - except for urgent cases – for 15 minutes between 9:00 – 9:15 a.m. on June 1, holding a vigil and wearing T-shirts bearing his photo.
Protests were held in provinces around the country, with doctors and medics condemning the attack while striking and holding vigils. Doctors working at the Bağcılar Education and Research Hospital did not work for a day in protest on June 1 and held a vigil after gathering outside the hospital in Istanbul’s Bağcılar district. The health workers held a march from Çapa Medicine Faculty to Provincal Health Management.
In the capital city Ankara, thousands of health workers rallied from Ankara Humune Hospital to the building of Health Ministry. They left the banner reading "We know the killer, where is the abettor?" in front of the building.
In the Aegean provinces of Izmir and Aydın, the health organizations held marches. The medics, carrying the placard reading "We condemn violence towards doctor, end violence anymore", protested the violence.
The main Kurdish city of Diyarbakır held a massive march from Seikh Said Square to Provincal Health Directory. The health workers put on white aprons and chanted the slogans of "End violence towards health workers". The crowd held one minute silence for Dr. Furtun.
In the Kurdish cities of Dersim, Şırnak, Hakkari, Siirt, Batman, Ağrı, Van and Mardin, the health workers went on one-day strike against violence against them. The workers held marches in the cities and made statements in front of hospital.
Medics working at the state hospital in the eastern province of Malatya gathered in protest by the hospital’s clinic and condemned the attack.
Doctors from the Kayseri Education and Research Hospital did not serve for 15 minutes to protest the killing of Furtun.
Several other protests were held in multiple provinces, including the southern provinces of Antalya, Adana, Mersin, Hatay, Isparta, Muğla and Burdur.
(nt)
