The walks also affected family health centers.

Making a statement in Antalya Konyaaltı Karşıyaka Family Health Center, Health and Social Service Workers’ Union (SES) Antalya Branch Co-Chairperson Dr. Kaan Taşer expressed the problems of Family Health Centers (ASM).

Taşer stated that the ASMs were unable to pay their bills due to the increases and listed their demands.

Taşer said that it is not possible for us to accept the provision of public health services within commercial logic; “As a union, our criticisms of this system remain unchanged. Our struggles and demands for a prioritized holistic approach to preventive health services continue. Until the system we fight for is built, the problems of the workers who work in the existing system at the FHCs must be solved,” he said.

‘ASM HAVE BECOME BUSINESSES’

Taşer stated that the exploitation was deepened in the FHCs and that the employees were separated into public and non-public employees. Stating that FHCs have become businesses, Taşer made the following statements on the subject:

“Although the primary health care services ‘transformed’ by the Family Medicine System have constantly caused problems in terms of public health, they have imposed forced labor in unsafe places for the workers who work in the ESF, and deepened the exploitation with a flexible, insecure performance -based remuneration system.

With the transition to family medicine, different forms of employment have emerged in this field. Health workers with the title of nurse, midwife, health officer (community health officer) and emergency medical technician who work in the same unit are called family health personnel and these workers are divided into employees public and non-public.

Apart from these, ASMs have morphed into businesses. Spaces in apartments and mosques were rented, and unsanitary and unsafe environments were transformed into ASM. The polish of these unsanitary buildings and the healthcare system has been lost in the pandemic. We all together saw how he was under the rubble during the earthquake.

Physicians EMPLOY STAFF AS EMPLOYERS

Taşer continued in his statement that the doctors paid the rent, the bills for electricity, water, natural gas for the buildings, were engaged in cleaning materials, repairs and renovations, and that they had to employ staff as employers to perform cleaning, stationery . , secretarial jobs, etc.

Taşer said: “As if all this was not enough, the current expense rates for these expenses are not enough to cover the expenses due to the rising cost of living, and stated that the current expense calculations are calculated on the CPI and added , “In addition, current spending calculations are made with real figures to show inflation lower than the PPI, it is paid on the CPI”.

‘STAFF EXPECTATIONS MUST BE MET’

In the statement, which stated that ASM employees work as contract personnel and are marginalized despite providing the same service as their other colleagues, the following statements were made regarding the personnel expectations of non-public employees:

“Although non-public family health workers have been providing the same service as contracted personnel for 12 years, they have made the other out of the other. It is not possible to accept the differences in personal and economic rights with employees who work in the same institution or even in the same FHC, even if they do the same job. Family unions, which were declared sacred, were torn apart at every opportunity, as they lacked job security and the right to relocate.

The expectation of MAPE personnel who are not public officials must be met as soon as possible by protecting all their rights. As a union from the very beginning of the transformation process in health; Our fight continues for job security, basic wages that are reflected in pensions above the poverty line, and uniform forms of employment. As we have mentioned before, it is not possible for us to accept practices that are far from solving current problems, increase income inequality among workers and ignore the team spirit of the primary level”.

THEY CLASSIFY THEIR REQUESTS

At the end of the statement in which the problems experienced in the FHCs were mentioned, Taşer listed his demands.

Taşer said, “As an interim transition period, the current payments should be calculated on the PPI rates and paid with a hundred percent increase until the below-mentioned demands are met. Because health workers produce health services. Expenditures and spending items such as consumer spending cannot be calculated on the CPI,” he said.

The demands made by Taşer were as follows:

-Any increases of 8 thousand TL and other percentages that are given to other workers for the July wage increases must cover everyone who works at FHC. These increases must be covered with public resources.

– All workers who work in the ESF must receive a base salary above the poverty line, which is reflected in retirement in a single item. On base salary; Wages must be determined by criteria such as the risk and nature of the work, years of service, level of education, and years of seniority. The base salary is the right of all workers.

– All workers working in ESFs, including doctors, nurses, midwives, health (public health) officers, EMTs and cleaners, must be recruited immediately, without any discrimination, protecting their rights. Economic and personal rights, especially milk leave, maternity leave, union leave, annual vacations, must be regulated like other permanent counterparts.

-Our friends who work at FHC are not “Family Health Workers” but health workers. Professional titles must be protected and job descriptions must be made.

– ‘Doctors are not businessmen’, therefore, it should be a first step, which should be carried out entirely by citizens (from the building to consumables, from electricity to water, where employees are public personnel with the right to unions with collective agreements and strikes). Doctors need to get rid of all kinds of burdens like renting a place, paying bills, paying employees’ salaries and insurance premiums, and just practicing medicine.

-Adequate staff should be employed in tourist regions and regions where seasonal workers are concentrated, taking into account the increasing workload in summer, and the management should meet the increasing need for consumables.

-Primary health care services must be provided in public buildings with adequate physical conditions, without any type of contribution, prioritizing preventive health services by the State and with a team approach.

We would like to emphasize once again. MAPEs are public institutions. Publicly provided health services cannot be carried out with the logic of half company, half public. We will not give up our fight to work with a permanent and safe health system for the benefit of the people and workers.