In the statement made by the Federation of Family Physicians Associations (AHEF), he reminded that there are still many problems that need to be resolved regarding the Family Medicine system, which celebrates its 14th anniversary this year, but that positive progress has not been made. AHEF Board Member Dr. Hüseyin Köz said, “Family medicine was a promising project that was thought to make both citizens and health workers happy with the efforts of health personnel, although it had deficiencies established during the restructuring of the health system, but it did not happen.”
AHEF Board Member Dr. Hüseyin Köz summarized the path taken for 14 years as follows. “14 years ago, the name of the Regional Health Centers was changed to Family Health Center and they were made workable overnight with the intense efforts of family physicians in accordance with the criteria determined by the state. In these warm environments provided by family physicians, it was aimed to take precautions against diseases that may develop in the future with cancer screenings, as well as to have our citizens examined, have their analyzes done when necessary, and follow up their chronic diseases. In addition, the foundations of healthy generations were laid by following up and vaccinating pregnant mothers and babies from birth.
Dr. Hüseyin Köz said that with the year 2020, very new responsibilities have been added to the existing workloads. “Immunization services are not limited to only mothers and babies over time, besides school vaccines, adult pneumonia, flu, tetanus vaccines, Covid19 vaccines are now being tried with all our strength. In addition to the outpatient clinic, basic health services such as dressing and injection continued uninterruptedly. Our people have applied to family physicians for their help requests, not only on medical issues, but also on all fields. When this is the case, the satisfaction rate from family physicians is above the 90s. However, as the problems of those who serve this system have grown in 14 years, they have turned into a tangle and led to boredom and burnout over time unless they are resolved.”
Drawing attention to the difficulties faced by family physicians, Dr. Embers; “The cornerstones of the roads leading to this desperation were laid with workloads whose boundaries were not clearly drawn, and different practices in each province, administrative requests that did not comply with laws and regulations, and an inexorable confusion of duties. In order to solve the problem, the contracted primary care representatives and the administration should sit at a table and sign the agreement that determines the working conditions.
Emphasizing that family medicine workers, who do not even have the right to leave without a power of attorney, should have the right to leave in accordance with the ILO conventions. Hüseyin Köz underlined that the 184 sabim lines, which constitute a stepping stone for violence in health, should be abolished and the aggressor should be punished with an effective penal code, without leaving it to the initiative of the judge. Dr. Koz said that family physicians should be cleared of their workloads that are not based on solid foundations. “What can be done in the FHC conditions regarding health reports should be determined and it should be regulated that the person’s self-declaration is sufficient, as is practiced in other countries. The equipment of reports that require expert opinion, such as driver’s license, rifle license, mental ability, should be solved by establishing a report unit in hospitals accordingly. As primary health care workers, we do not want negative or positive performance that is not present in any institution. We do not want health workers to be penalized with performance criteria, unless a sanction is imposed on the teacher for the child who does not pass the exam, or if the tax office employees are not having a problem because you collected the tax less. A health worker cannot bear the brunt of a family who does not have their child vaccinated on time, with a negative performance. The necessity of vaccination should be explained more through the media, and a difference should be made with regulations such as SSI premium increase for the future health problems of those who do not want to have it. It is not possible to carry out the workload only through the physician with this task intensity. The shortage of auxiliary health personnel should be completed as soon as possible. Although it is still in the job description of municipalities in many provinces, judicial-burial watch is carried out by family physicians. Over the years, it is necessary to compensate for the last 10 years’ progress payments, current allowance and personal rights losses of the Family Physicians and to meet the current conditions by rearrangement.
Undoubtedly, health is the most indispensable priority of human beings, and to do this successfully and to ensure its continuity is possible with a health army that has overcome its problems. Koz added the following: “As family physicians, we are working hard for the health system to run smoothly and we will continue to do so. We expect our strong state to reduce burnout in healthcare workers and motivate them in difficult working conditions.”
Source: (BHA) – Beyaz News Agency
