The President of World Medical Association (WMA), Nigeria’s Dr Osahon Enabulele, on Thursday, called on the Government of Turkey to embrace dialogue and collaboration with the Turkish Medical Association (TMA) in resolving disputes between both parties.
The Turkish government is currently locked in a legal battle with the leadership of the Turkish Medical Association, a development the global President of the association noted was capable of affecting healthcare delivery and severe harm to patients and erodes medical professionalism in the country.
Enabulele, according to a statement emailed to LEADERSHIP in Benin city, Edo State, had in Ankara, Turkey, also embarked on a campaign rally against the alleged persecution of leaders of the Turkish Medical Association.
Enabulele, accompanied by a delegation of TMA, led by its President, Prof. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, representative of the Standing Committee of European Doctors, Dr. Ole Johan Bakke, and other stakeholders, had addressed a mammoth crowd within the premises of the court.
The number one global President had expressed the association’s great worry over the continued harassment, intimidation and persecution of leaders of the TMA by the Turkish Government.
He said the local association was subjected to oppression for speaking up on issues that concern public health and the well-being of the people, and for offering healthcare to injured victims of conflicts.
He asserted that the attempts to dismiss and imprison leaders of TMA, and outlaw the Association were clear assaults on their fundamental human rights, particularly their freedom of expression and right to associate, as well as assaults on their professional autonomy, clinical independence, and professional self-regulation.
“If left unchecked, the assaults and repressive efforts of the government will have grave implications for healthcare delivery in Turkey with great harm to patients, erosion of medical professionalism and societal trust, as well as compromise of the patient-physician relationship,” Enabulele stated.
The WMA President, therefore, urged the Turkish government to beat a retreat from its current adversarial approach and embrace a collaborative, constructive and harmonious strategy, adding that “with improved health care delivery and health outcomes, and improved medical professionalism based on ethical values, as common interests.”
Commending the Turkish Medical Association and her leaders for their stoic resolve and struggles against the draconian and retrogressive policy and legal prescriptions, the WMA President relayed some of his leadership experiences in repelling such oppressive and retrogressive tendencies of state agents, and assured them of the WMA’s sustained and robust solidarity.
The court hearing later took place inside one of the Ankara courtrooms, but was later adjourned to the November 10, 2023.
Enabulele was later conferred with an award after leading a panel of discussion on self-regulation of medical professional organisations, organised by the Turkish Medical Association in the TMA secretariat in Ankara, Turkey.
Before leaving Turkey, the WMA President is expected to visit Adana and Hatay cities, which were devastated by the earthquakes that occurred earlier in the year.
