The facts about health services provided during recent events in Istanbul

Abstract

We are very disappointed by the Comment recently published in The Lancet (June 15, p 2067),1During Turkish protests, medical personnel targeted.Lancet. 2013; 381: 2067Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar containing incorrect and biased information about events at Gezi Park in Istanbul. Health system performance is at the top of the reform agenda of the Turkish Government, and has been for the last decade. There have been many successful reforms acclaimed by national and international authorities, among which emergency health care was a priority. As a consequence, improvements in emergency health-care services have been important. For example, the number of ambulances in Istanbul increased seven-fold during the last ten years. The Ministry of Health provides emergency health-care services on land and in the air, ambulances free of charge, covering the whole population irrespective of language, religion, nationality, or ideology. Turkish emergency health-care system leadership was recognised by WHO in its crisis management assessment report in 2010.2WHOAssessment of health systems' crisis preparedness: Turkey.http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/emergencies/disaster-preparedness-and-response/publications/2011/assessment-of-health-systems-crisis-preparedness-turkeyGoogle Scholar Recent legislation on alcohol policy are in line with the WHO resolution on harmful use of alcohol, and is not as strict as alcohol regulations in European countries such as Finland and Ireland. It is really difficult to understand the correlation made in the Comment1During Turkish protests, medical personnel targeted.Lancet. 2013; 381: 2067Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar between the terrorist attack in Hatay province and alcohol regulations for public health protection. The Ministry of Health has been focused on the events in Istanbul from the first moment and up to now. The ambulances system had been alerted and kept ready at selected strategic points to reach people in need as fast as possible. During the events, ambulances carried 521 affected people to hospitals in Istanbul, whereas a total of 1207 patients were carried by ambulance around the country. Claiming that ambulances were rarely able to access the protest areas is far from reality and totally incorrect. However, ambulances and emergency health personnel had to overcome many obstacles. The protesters targeted not only shopping areas, buses, and public buildings, but also ambulances in some parts of the country including Istanbul, resulting in 45 damaged ambulances—11 of which are still out of order. Some health workers, and even some transferred patients and their companions, were injured during these attacks. This proves that ambulances were ready and serving on site, despite being targeted by protesters. The outcomes can be found in the ambulances records and statistics on affected people. By contrast with the claim in the Comment,1During Turkish protests, medical personnel targeted.Lancet. 2013; 381: 2067Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar there has been no medical student treated in an intensive care unit. Protesters set up some so-called first-aid stations. No evaluation or medical recordings have been obtained so far. These stations were open to malpractice by unskilled people. Instead of calling for ambulances, protesters tried to keep injured people in these first-aid stations and put patients' lives at risk. In one of these stations, some people acting as doctors were arrested, they had criminal records according to judicial records, and were not associated with health-care services. Thus, these so-called first-aid stations hampered actual first aid that patients really needed. The Lancet is an important scientific journal; however, it is confusing and difficult to understand how this Comment1During Turkish protests, medical personnel targeted.Lancet. 2013; 381: 2067Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar was published without authors' names and without communication with representatives of the blamed governmental agencies. I declare that I have no conflicts of interest. During Turkish protests, medical personnel targetedRecent events in Turkey have alarmed the international community. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in 2002, after being formed in 2001 by members of other existing parties that had been banned from politics for endangering Turkish secularism. It is a centre-right conservative political party, and is described in western media as being Islamist, although this is denied by most party members.1 The party is also the largest in Turkey. It won a landslide victory in 2002, and since then has won elections with a greater share of votes on each occasion. Full-Text PDF