COVID-19 Nedeniyle Kaybettiğimiz Hekim ve Sağlık Çalışanlarını Andık

On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, we commemorated the doctors and healthcare workers we lost due to COVID-19 with a press conference held in front of the Okmeydanı Prof. Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu City Hospital. The press conference was attended by Dr. Pınar Saip, Vice President of the Central Council of the Turkish Medical Association; Dr. Osman Küçükosmanoğlu, President of the Istanbul Chamber of Physicians (İTO); Dr. Ertuğrul Oruç, General Secretary of the İTO; Dr. İrfan Gökçay, İTO representative at Okmeydanı Prof. Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu City Hospital; and Fadime Kavak Sevim, Co-President of the Şişli Branch of the Health and Social Services Workers' Union (SES). Dr. Pınar Saip spoke first at the press conference. Dr. Saip stated that the commercialization of healthcare and the failure to make timely closure decisions were the reasons for the loss of so many lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Saip stated that healthcare workers and doctors lost their lives due to the lack of necessary equipment, saying, “These were all preventable deaths. Moreover, none of the figures given during the pandemic were accurate. The pandemic process was managed in a completely non-transparent manner. The inadequacy and fragmentation of primary healthcare services, and the inability to conduct sufficient contact tracing, led to the spread of the pandemic.” Saip emphasized that no lessons were learned from these events, that the healthcare system is getting progressively worse, and that the integrated structure of primary healthcare services is being disrupted, concluding his speech by saying, “We continue the struggle saying that a better healthcare system is possible. Because we owe this to our friends and colleagues we lost. We will continue the fight. Another healthcare system, another Turkey where people don't die in pandemics is possible.” Dr. Osman Küçükosmanoğlu began his speech by commemorating all our colleagues, co-workers, and citizens we lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, starting with Prof. Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu. Küçükosmanoğlu stated that the whole world should be prepared for new pandemics, saying, “This is a reality before us; just like environmental problems, pandemics are one of the important realities that will negatively affect the future of humanity.” Küçükosmanoğlu emphasized the need to maintain the health system and to reward the selfless efforts of healthcare workers, highlighting the importance of public awareness in this regard by giving the example of vaccines. Recalling that vaccines reduced deaths during the pandemic, Küçükosmanoğlu noted that there is currently a decrease in resistance to diseases for which there are no vaccines, and said, “We want society to be sensitive to our old and new enemies, viruses.” Dr. İrfan Gökçay stressed that if the public health system is maintained and its problems are solved, we can overcome such major pandemics and disasters. Fadime Kavak Sevim also stated in her speech that hundreds of healthcare workers have been lost due to the lack of precautions.