In the regulation regarding the service, the Ministry stated that a “home health service unit” with a capacity of at least three beds and equipment will be established within the health facility where short-term treatments can be provided for cases that require examination, diagnosis and examination.
RISK OF INFECTION
On the other hand, there is no treatment unit defined in the regulation in Erzincan Mengücek Gazi Training and Research Hospital Home Health Services unit. For this reason, home health patients are taken to the polyclinics in the other block of the hospital by “home patient care technicians” on stretchers or wheelchairs. Due to the density in polyclinics, one has to wait for hours in the hospital corridors for examination. Patients receiving chemotherapy, who are unconscious and have chronic illnesses, face the risk of being exposed to infection in the outpatient clinic environment.
Derya Uğur, President of General Health-İş, stated that patients leaked stool and urine on the stretchers during the long waiting and transfer process, that perineal care was performed in environments where infection was intense or could not be performed at all, that they were exposed to the reactions of other patients due to the smell of stool and urine, and that patients’ relatives cleaned their patients’ diapers in the polyclinic corridors. He said he had to change it.
“WE CLEAN THE BOTTOM”
Underlining that the ambulances allocated for home health do not meet the required standard, Uğur said that the grievances experienced by the patients in the hospital in question do not suit “human dignity”. Uğur said, “On the one hand, healthcare professionals who experience tension with patients’ relatives, on the other hand, are constantly exposed to ‘humiliating’ actions and discourses of the administration. Humiliating such as ‘If we want, we can send you to clean the patients’ diapers in the ward accompanied by a stewardess’; “They are exposed to discriminatory words and discourses that damage reputation, honor and dignity,” he said.