MANİSA -  SES Manisa Branch Co-chair Figen Pehlivan Demirel stated that 34 healthcare workers were infected because there were not enough protective equipment in the pandemic hospitals in the city. He stated that while some employees were given 1 mask per day, no masks were given to the cleaning workers.

 

Due to the outbreak of coronavirus (Kovid-19), health workers are struggling in terms of diagnosis and treatment of the disease, while trying to protect themselves. The number of infected healthcare workers is increasing day by day as the demands for protective equipment are not met.

 

Figen Pehlivan Demirel, Co-Chair of the Health Workers' Union (SES) Manisa Branch, stated that Central Efendi State Hospital, Manisa Celal Bayar University Training and Research Hospital and Manisa City Hospital are declared pandemic hospitals. Demirel said  that the test of 34 of them was positive because the workers were not provided with sufficient protective equipment.

 

Demirel said, “We have taken steps to protect healthcare workers here and make hospitals suitable for treatment. Most hospitals did not have protective equipment and workers were worried that they worked without equipment. They had a very difficult time."

 

ONE MASK PER DAY

 

Stating that the statements of the Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca about the problem of equipment do not reflect the truth, Demirel said: "Employees in the pandemic department have protective equipment, but not enough. They are given one or two per day. These people work 8, 12 or even 24 hours most of the time. Therefore, the material given is insufficient. There is no protective equipment especially for nurses, data workers and the cleaning crew. They are told that they do not work in risk because they do not directly contact the patients. But we can say that the first health care worker to be infected with the virus is from the cleaning crew. They clean the rooms of the patients without equipment. As of today, 34 of our friends have tested positive for coronavirus. Some of them are being treated at the hospital, the rest is in quarantine at home."