They will celebrate May 1, more indebted, poorer

Each Living conditions, increasingly difficult by the day, hit health workers deeply as they do all workers. According to the field research of the General Health Union-İş covering the period 2019-2023, health workers will enter May 1 of this year with much more debt and impoverishment compared to last year and previous years.

According to studies,
In the period 2019-2023, the proportion of health professionals who have had to borrow money for the continuation of daily life has increased by 11.5 points. While the rate of those who borrowed their daily lives was 69.6 percent in 2019, this rate increased to 72.8 percent in 2021, 75.3 percent in 2022, and 81.1 percent in 2023. The process transformation in health, pandemic and crisis increased the loan utilization rate of health workers by 7.7 points. While the rate of healthcare professionals using bank loans was 78.4% in 2019, this rate increased to 86.1% in 2023. In the same period, the rate of those using consumer loans increased from 66 .5 percent to 75.5 percent. The rate of health professionals who had to pay the minimum amount on their credit card and pay high interest rates increased from 30.4 percent to 45.3 percent in the last 4 years.

DIMINISHED

The research also showed that health professionals, who fell into debt and impoverished, lost face in the eyes of society and suffered a serious loss of reputation. While the negative emphasis on health professionals was 91% in 2019, this rate increased to 97.5% in 2023. In the last 4 years, the rate of health professionals stating that Turkey’s main problems were the economy and financial difficulties rose to 95.9 percent. Following financial difficulties, corruption and unqualified appointments were some of the biggest problems.

‘The lowest salary should exceed the poverty line’

General Health business president Dr. Derya Uğur said that workers are becoming poorer with each passing day, and health workers are overwhelmed by long working hours, insufficient wages and harsh working conditions.

Dr. Uğur demanded urgent correction of harsh and poor working conditions, raising the lowest salary above the poverty line, making gradual increases, avoiding violence, giving wear and tear, increasing additional indicators, satisfying the need for gardens of childhood and nursing homes, and returning to public health policies