Chairman of the Family Medicine Employees Union (AHESEN) Dr. Ahmet Kandemir; “While construction continues in Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Malatya, Adıyaman and Gaziantep's Nurdağı and İslâhiye districts, which were seriously affected by the earthquake, demolition is being completed on the other hand. In summary, the process is still not back to normal for our colleagues who continue their lives and work there. Tens of thousands of people died, and thousands of people had to migrate to other cities or to regions of their provinces that were less affected by the earthquake. "In addition to the decrease in the population of many family medicine units, the population of the units will decrease even more as the missing citizens are processed into the system, and therefore there will be losses in the wages of family physicians and family health workers." said.
Stating that the regulation put into practice by the Ministry of Health should be extended for at least 1 more year, AHESEN Chairman Dr. Ahmet Kandemir; “With the amendment made to the Family Medicine Payment and Contract regulation on April 4, 2023; In the payments of contracted Family Physicians and Family Health workers, the fee screening and follow-up coefficient and certification payments to be paid for registered persons are calculated separately and 'payments are made not less than the monthly wages of the month before the disaster that affects general life'. Even though it was an appropriate regulation to last 6 months and then extend this practice, the fact that life in the region had not returned to a fully healthy process necessitated the extension of the period for at least 1 more year. Although Family Health Centers operate in some regions, the number of registered population has decreased because there is a lot of destruction around them. In this process, population mobility is likely to be very high and it is obvious that reaching patients will be difficult. While heavily damaged and collapsed ASMs are still serving in containers under difficult conditions, it remains unclear when they will transition to permanent structures. "While these processes and difficult conditions continue, this decision should be taken urgently in order to provide more comfortable and uninterrupted health services to the employees working in the region without worrying about the future," he said.
