While trying to heal the wounds of the earthquake, Unity and Solidarity Union No. 1 Branch President Dr. stated that new ASMs were not built to replace the family health centers that were demolished in the past year. Ahmet Tapduk Mehlepçi said that the Ministry of Health was unprepared for the earthquake and that no progress has been made even though a year has passed.
Dr. Ahmet Tapduk Mehlepçi recorded his impressions and shortcomings in the first moments of the earthquake as follows:
Stating that they were among the first doctors to go to Hatay on February 6, Mehlepçi said, “There was no hospital left standing in the city. It was either destroyed, overturned, or was about to crumble at the slightest aftershock. Hatay Training and Research Hospital, 15 km outside the city, was heavily damaged. In the first stage, an attempt was made to establish a mobile field hospital in the garden. The earthquake dealt a very heavy blow, but the main health ministry was caught very unprepared. It was almost impossible to find a vehicle to go from Training Research Hospital to Hatay center. Even if you find a vehicle, you cannot find fuel, everyone is in a state of panic. The officials from AFAD had no disaster knowledge or management competence, it was impossible for you to go on foot. Ambulances are trying to carry the injured from the rubble from the center of Hatay to here. Since the injured cannot be x-rayed, no blood tests can be done and they cannot be followed, they are transferred again to Istanbul, Ankara or various provinces by helicopters. All the while you're thinking: If family health centers in every neighborhood were working, first triage and intervention would be done in FHCs. When we managed to go to the center of Hatay, we saw that almost all Family Health Centers were destroyed or badly damaged and unusable. A year has passed since the earthquake. A new building has not been built to replace any of the destroyed or heavily damaged ASMs in Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Malatya and Adıyaman, and the services provided at the Family Health Center continue in containers. Our friends working in ASMs in the region were left alone, just like the demolished ASMs, and nothing was done for their housing problems. However, Family Health Centers should have been built by the state in earthquake-resistant and detached buildings.” he said.
WE EXPERIENCED THE EARTHQUAKE, BUT WE DID NOT LEARN A LESSON!
Unity and Solidarity Union 17st Branch President Dr. said that we experienced the earthquake on 1 August Marmara Earthquake and could not learn any lessons. Ahmet Tapduk Mehlepçi said, “Our country is located in the earthquake zone. We experienced it on August 17, but we did not learn any lessons. We experienced this on February 6 and did not learn any lessons. "A year has passed and a major earthquake is expected in the Marmara Region, the provincial health directorate and the ministry are not taking any precautions against the earthquake." said.
PHCs IN ISTANBUL ARE IN DANGER!
Saying that many ASMs in Istanbul will be in danger in the face of an earthquake, Mehlepçi said, “Many ASMs in Istanbul, especially in central places, provide services in buildings with no windows and no light, perhaps 30-40 years old, unsupervised, and not earthquake-resistant, such as under mosques or in apartment basements. The Provincial Health Directorate does not carry out any tests or checks on FHCs to see if they are resistant to earthquakes, and also sent a letter in January saying that you should either do the OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH and SAFETY RISK ANALYSIS of the FHC you work for or have it done somewhere else. In other words, if something happens to you one day, they plan to rise to the top like olive oil by saying that you are our staff, but you signed it and took responsibility for it. They want everything to be done as a formality, to be seen on paper, to be judged on paper when there is a problem, and for nothing to happen to us. "While 41 minutes of a month's rent paid to city hospitals is enough to build a 6-unit ASM, the fact that they do not choose to do this suggests that their health policies are in favor of profit, not public health." he said.
Dr. stated that they carried out a study on those who provide services at the Family Health Center regarding earthquake safety in Istanbul. Ahmet Tapduk Mehlepçi summarizes the results of the study as follows:
-Half of the Family Health Centers in Istanbul were built before the 2007 earthquake regulations.
-On average, one in three Family Health Centers provides services in buildings that experienced the 1999 earthquake.
-The rate of ASMs that have been tested for earthquake safety does not exceed 1. Although one third of the ASMs tested have not passed this test, work continues here.
-Half of the ASM employees think that their buildings are not earthquake resistant, and the rate of those who think that their ASM is resistant to an earthquake of magnitude 7 or above is only 8%.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH SHOULD TAKE URGENT ACTION FOR RISKY PHCs
Dr. Ahmet Tapduk Mehlepçi addressed the authorities.
Noting that 80% of the Family Health Center employees stated that they volunteered to work in the crisis period in the ASM region after the earthquake, Mehlepçi said, “However, the Health Directorates do not have any work towards this. Strong ASM buildings will be the most ideal health gathering areas in case of an earthquake. Instead of asking the Ministry of Health (Directorates) on the phone after minor earthquakes whether there is any damage to the building, expert teams should be established on this subject (with expert support from TMMOB and Municipalities, if necessary) and on-site checks should be carried out. The Ministry of Health should urgently find places for the risky ASMs in need or expropriate them, and build low-rise and earthquake-resistant detached buildings for the ASMs in relevant places. "It can be started immediately by evacuating the ASMs serving in the basement or upper floors of risky buildings," he said.
Stating that a standardized, pre-prepared task chart is one of the simplest measures to be taken to reduce the chaos in a similar situation to the disaster we experienced a year ago, Mehlepçi said, "In possible scenarios, reducing the crowding in the FHC at the time of an earthquake, and supporting and encouraging FHCs to work entirely on an appointment system in order to achieve this." must. You are not making the transition to detached earthquake-resistant buildings in gardens in Istanbul. At least, the existing ASMs in this style should be used for emergencies, such as serum, emergency medicines, splints, portable stretchers, all kinds of medical supplies to be used in the emergency (endotrecal tubes, catheters, angiocuts, etc.). .) It is essential to place containers, at least for first response. You can constantly check the expiration date of the materials and medicines to be placed here electronically, and have the personnel you send to mobbing us do this job every few months. In case of an earthquake in a huge city, you will take a step rather than waiting without doing anything. But you don't because you see primary care as an unprofitable investment. However, in developed countries, investment in primary care is not considered as a profit motive but as an investment in public health. Protecting public health is the first duty of the state. "In the expected earthquake disaster in Marmara, not only people but also the ministries and health directorates that did not take precautions will be buried under the rubble," he said.
