The founder of Hatay Earthquake Victim Association stated that there is a need to provide services to earthquake victims, amputee individuals and also a need for fully equipped hospitals, well-equipped schools in the city. And he made a call: “We demand that the districts Antakya, Defne, Samandağ, Kırıkhan, İskenderun and Arsuz to be declared as special disaster areas.”
Explaining that they could not find an answer to their demands, Hatay Earthquake Victim Association announced to the public an annual situation report that they could not submit to the competent authorities. In the report titled “1st Year of the Hatay Earthquake”, health, education, disabled individuals, missing bodies whose have not been identified, and economic and infrastructure problems in the city were included.
The founders of Hatay Earthquake Victim Association demanded solutions to the problems they reported. The founders stated that especially Hatay’s districts of Antakya, Defne, Samandağ, Kırıkhan, İskenderun and Arsuz should be declared a special disaster areas immediately.
In the press release made by Ece Doğru on behalf of the Hatay Earthquake Victim Association, it was emphasized that there were around 3 thousand orphaned children and around a thousand amputees, and that there was no way of earning a living for 700 thousand people in the city.
In the statement, it was emphasized that “We are experiencing deep inequality in Hatay” in terms of conditions in the city, especially education and health, and it was requested to urgently establish schools with the necessary equipment for children. In the statement asking the question to the authorities, “would you send your own children to school in this environment?” the following demands regarding Hatay were included:
“As those who cannot access the constitutional right of access to health, we insist on our demand for a full-fledged hospital. The needs of the public should be met by revising existing regulations, legislation or laws according to earthquake conditions. Family health centers should be established in neighborhoods, regardless of population requirement. We ask the authorities, would you want to live in this city for yourself or your relatives when access to health is at this level? The public’s demands must be met urgently. After the earthquake, huge disadvantaged groups consisting of citizens such as the elderly, disabled individuals, amputee individuals and orphaned children have emerged. The problems experienced by these citizens are not seen, not heard. We ask the authorities, what would you do if one of our relatives was included in one of these disadvantaged groups? We want the same things you would for this situation.”
Bıyıklı said that they were left alone when they got out of the rubble or waited for their loved ones next to the rubble on the morning of the earthquake in Hatay, and said, “They said, ‘Take care of yourself.’ From that moment on, we have been constantly taking care of ourselves. Hope lies with the people of Hatay.” He also shared his opinion and said, “If something needs to be done, the people of Hatay will do it.”
“There is no service for chronic cases such as cancer patients”
Hatay Medical Chamber board member Dr. Servet Alkan explained that while there were 2,400 beds in the city in the past, there are now 700 beds and that no service can be provided for chronic cases such as cancer patients.
Stating that they had to send medically problematic surgeries out of the city because they could not perform them in Hatay, Alkan pointed out that there were inadequate conditions in the hospitals in İskenderun, Samandağ and Dörtyol.
Explaining that there is a serious decrease in vaccination rates in the city and an interruption in the vaccination tracking system, Alkan said, “In terms of patient records in the health system, electricity is constantly needed, and we do not have internet. We have difficulty keeping track of the necessary information in many places. “We have difficulty reaching these patients because the patients who are being followed up chronically went out of town,” he said.
(Source: VOA TÜRKÇE/YILDIZ YAZICIOĞLU)
