11.02.2025 20:30
The Ministry of Health denied the claims of a 'Newborn Gang' published in the German magazine Der Spiegel, stating that the figures related to hospitals are incorrect and misleading.
The Ministry of Health denied the allegations regarding the "Newborn Gang" published in the German Der Spiegel magazine through its social media account named "Healthy Solution of the Ministry of Health."
The Ministry of Health made a written statement regarding the article titled "Erdoğan's 'newborn mafia' problem," published in Der Spiegel by Şebnem Arsu and Maximilian Popp.
In the statement made by the Ministry, while the allegations of the magazine were denied; it was stated that "Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu is the person who personally initiated the 'Newborn Gang' investigation during his tenure as the Istanbul Provincial Health Director. The 'Newborn Gang' was dismantled through the coordinated efforts of the Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate, security forces, and judicial authorities.
Judicial authorities delivered the investigation documents to the inspectors of the Ministry of Health on September 3, 2024; the Ministry of Health teams quickly reviewed thousands of pages of documents and established a causal link between infant deaths and the negligence of the suspects. Therefore, it has been determined by our Ministry of Health that the suspects are responsible for the infant deaths. The Inspection Board of the Ministry of Health, after reviewing the thousands of pages of the report, recommended the closure of the hospitals on October 18, 2024; on the same day, these hospitals were immediately closed," it was stated.
"DER SPIEGEL IS MANIPULATING WITH THE NUMBERS AND COMPARISONS IT PUBLISHED"
The minister stated that Der Spiegel is manipulating, saying, "Currently, there are not 234 but 238 hospitals in Istanbul. Of these, not 164 but 144 belong to the private sector. Der Spiegel is misleading its readership by comparing the number of public and private hospitals in terms of quantity. Only 33.58% (15,435 beds) of the total bed capacity of 45,962 in Istanbul is in private health facilities.
Former Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu served as the Minister of Health from January 24, 2013, to May 24, 2016. Mr. Kemal Memişoğlu started his duty as the Provincial Health Director of Istanbul on October 6, 2016, during the period when Mr. Recep Akdağ served as Minister of Health. Therefore, Mr. Mehmet Müezzinoğlu was not the Provincial Health Director while serving as Minister of Health. If Der Spiegel wants to compare the number of public and private hospitals providing health services and the number of beds, it would be beneficial to consider the situation in Germany," he stated.
RESPONDED WITH DATA
The Ministry also shared the following data: "According to 2022 Eurostat data, there are a total of 2,982 hospitals in Germany; only 24.91% (743 hospitals) belong to the public sector. 45.10% (1,345 hospitals) are for-profit private health institutions. 29.97% (894 hospitals) are non-profit private health institutions.
Again, according to Eurostat data, out of a total bed capacity of 642,107 in Germany; only 39.77% (255,391 beds) belong to the public sector. 31.92% (204,979 beds) are in for-profit private health institutions. 28.30% (181,737 beds) are in non-profit private health institutions."