14.02.2025 16:32
Dentists working in the public sector staged a walkout to demand better working conditions, financial compensation, and personal rights. Gathering in front of the Ankara Provincial Health Directorate, the dentists outlined their demands for the improvement of working conditions.
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Publicly employed dentists staged a strike for their working conditions, financial and personal rights. Dentists gathered in front of the Ankara Provincial Health Directorate and listed their demands for the improvement of working conditions. The President of the Ankara Chamber of Dentists, Serkan Er, stated, "The current healthcare system, which was initiated years ago under the name of the 'Health Transformation Program' and has become increasingly unmanageable, has made dentists, like other healthcare workers, tired, unhappy, and exhausted. This system, based on quantity rather than quality, which is impossible to monitor and sustain, leaves our colleagues under heavy working conditions, prevents our people from accessing quality oral and dental health services, and threatens public health."
NUMEROUS UNIONS SUPPORTED THE ACTION
Organized unions and civil society organizations in the health sector held a press conference in front of the Ankara Provincial Health Directorate to support the strike of publicly employed dentists. Members and executives from the Ankara Medical Chamber, Ankara Chamber of Dentists, Ankara Family Medicine Association, Unity and Solidarity Union, Physicians Union, HEKİMSEN, General Health-Work Union, and Health and Social Services Workers Union attended the statement. Dentists carried banners reading, "We extract teeth, we suffer, enough is enough, we rebel," "We can't do the tooth in 5 minutes, MHRS doesn't know the job," "Intervene in the system, not the physician," while chanting slogans like "Silence, as we remain silent, the shift is coming." The President of the Ankara Chamber of Dentists, Serkan Er, General Secretary of the General Health-Work Union, Veli Karabacak, Vice President of the Physicians Union, Özgür Öz, Ankara Branch President of HEKİMSEN, Banu Yıldırım, Eylem İliç Mete from the Public Dentists Association, Co-Chair of SES Ankara Branch, İbrahim Kara, and Vice President of the Ankara Medical Association, Sinem Mermer, spoke at the press conference. CHP Ankara Deputy Aylin Yaman, Saadet Party Deputy Chairman Ahmet Yazıcı, and KESK Co-Chair Ahmet Karagöz also supported the statement.
"THE SYSTEM DOES NOT ALLOW US TO WORK WITH LOVE"
Speaking about the strike, Özgür Öz, Vice President of the Physicians Union, said, "The problems that have accumulated over time have become a knot. Dentists cannot practice their profession in the public sector; they have no time. There is a very strong objection. For this to be heard, a strike was held in front of the provincial health directorate for the first time in history. Under the current conditions, the system does not allow us to work with love. We want to do our job with love. We are fighting for the conditions to provide the public with the quality service they deserve."
DENTISTS HAVE BEEN MADE TIRED, UNHAPPY, AND EXHAUSTED LIKE OTHER HEALTH WORKERS
Speaking on behalf of the Ankara Chamber of Dentists, Serkan Er stated: "Today we are here to raise our voices against the heavy working conditions experienced by all our colleagues in the public sector, the injustices in their personal rights, and the pressures on our profession. The current healthcare system, which was initiated years ago under the name of the 'Health Transformation Program' and has become increasingly unmanageable, has made dentists, like other healthcare workers, tired, unhappy, and exhausted. This system, based on quantity rather than quality, which is impossible to monitor and sustain, leaves our colleagues under heavy working conditions, prevents our people from accessing quality oral and dental health services, and threatens public health."
"IN 2025; ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL BE TALKING TO PEOPLE, SPACE TOURISM WILL BE DISCUSSED, BUT WE HEALTH WORKERS STILL..."
Veli Karabacak, General Secretary of the General Health-Work Union, expressed the following views in his statement: "Health workers in public institutions providing oral and dental health services, which are one of the cornerstones of the health system, are now exhausted due to the long-standing rights losses and injustices faced, just like all professional groups. While the world is rapidly changing and developing with advancing technology, we are still fighting for our basic rights. In 2025; artificial intelligence will be talking to people, space tourism will be discussed, but we health workers are still struggling against violence in healthcare. We are shouting that our working conditions are not suitable. We have to explain the necessity of every dentist working with the 4-handed rule. We express that the appointment times are insufficient while providing oral and dental health services. We emphasize the importance of patient privacy and state that examinations cannot be conducted in a room with 2-3-4 units."
"WE ARE FORCED TO SEE AN EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF PATIENTS IN THE MHRS SYSTEM"
Özgür Öz, Vice President of the Physicians Union, who said, "The problems that have been ignored for years have now reached an unbearable level," included the following statements in his explanation: "As dentists, we are striking to receive the value of our labor, to work humanely, and to provide quality health services to our patients. For the first time, we are organizing a strike with such broad participation, separately from other professional groups. As public dentists, we are striking on February 14 to do our job with love. So, why are we striking? Because while trying to cope with the increasing problems every day, we have become unable to continue our profession. We are striving to provide quality health services to our people, but the current working conditions have brought us to the brink of exhaustion. We are crushed under excessive patient loads. We are forced to see an excessive number of patients in the MHRS system. It is not possible for us to perform procedures such as fillings and root canal treatments properly with appointment times of 10-15 minutes. We want the MHRS system to be made sustainable. Our proposal is to implement an MHRS schedule of 12 + 4, and to switch to a closed schedule application so that dentists can plan long treatments, just like physicians have a surgery day once a week."
DENTISTRY IS NOT A SUBSPECIALTY OF MEDICINE
Banu Yıldırım, Ankara Branch President of HEKİMSEN, speaking on behalf of HEKİMSEN, stated, "The main source of the problems faced by public dentists is the management of public dentistry according to the medical system. Dentistry is not a subspecialty of medicine. Dentistry is a field of its own." Eylem İliç Mete, a dentist speaking on behalf of the Public Dentists Association, said, "We are here today because we genuinely care about our people. We are here to increase the quality and quantity of public dentistry. Dentists cannot allocate sufficient time to their patients. We want this situation to be corrected for the quality of treatment to improve."
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