Turkish Health-Sen Strongly Reacts to Salary Cuts in Family Medicine

ANKARA – Türk Sağlık-Sen (Turkish Health-Sen), a prominent healthcare workers' union, has issued a strong statement denouncing significant wage deductions, reaching up to 20 percent, within the family medicine system. The union urgently called on the Ministry of Health to implement immediate regulations, emphasizing that the necessity of their long-standing "Single Salary System" proposal has once again become evident due to these grievances.

Source of Grievance: Patient Non-Attendance and Faulty Performance-Based Pay Regulation

According to Türk Sağlık-Sen's statement, one of the primary grievances for family physicians and family health workers stems from wage deductions imposed for citizens who do not visit their family physician for six consecutive months. The union stated that this situation amounts to punishing healthcare workers through no fault of their own, and that the reduction of their salaries is unacceptable.

Furthermore, issues with the "Physician Practice Score (HYP)" regulation continue to cause hardship. Türk Sağlık-Sen highlighted that the absence of a transparent regulation, where each employee is solely responsible for their own HYP performance, leads to unfair deductions in this area.

Deputy Minister Promised Action, But No Steps Taken Yet

According to information provided by the union, these two main issues, along with other regulations causing grievances such as coefficients and satisfaction-rate-based payments, were conveyed to Deputy Minister of Health Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şuayıp Birinci by Türk Sağlık-Sen General President Önder Kahveci last week. During the meeting, Deputy Minister Birinci reportedly stated that a new regulation would be introduced shortly to resolve the situation.

However, Türk Sağlık-Sen pointed out that despite the elapsed time, no such regulation has been implemented, and this inaction continues to result in severe wage losses, reaching up to 20 percent, for family physicians and family healthcare workers. The statement reiterated the call: "Such a loss is unacceptable. The Ministry must immediately make the necessary arrangements to eliminate this grievance."

"Sustainability of the System Is Being Debated"

Türk Sağlık-Sen emphasized that these wage losses not only affect the economic well-being of the employees but also seriously threaten the overall sustainability of the family medicine system. The union stated, "The issue is very serious; these losses experienced by family medicine employees, despite having no responsibility, open the sustainability of the system to debate. The Ministry must urgently make arrangements and put an end to this situation."

Additionally, the union directed a general criticism towards the Ministry of Health, stating, "The Ministry of Health must cease imposing unexpected monthly deductions on all employees' salaries and from pushing employees' finances into uncertainty," underscoring the need to ensure economic stability for workers.

Türk Sağlık-Sen announced that they will continue to monitor this critical issue and pursue their struggle on all platforms until a solution is found.