Economic woes force Turkish health professionals abroad

Turkish health professionals are leaving Turkey in hopes of finding better working conditions and quality of life, the Turkish Medical Association has claimed, amid a soaring inflation figure of almost 80%.

Hundreds of doctors have left their jobs in Turkey to seek opportunities abroad.

In 2021, more than 1,000 doctors sought "good standing" documents from the Turkish Medical Association to be able to practice medicine outside Turkey.

Dr. Tahsin Cinar, an anaesthetist at a university hospital, is only one of the thousands that have become increasingly chafed under the rising demands being a medical professional requires in Turkey.

Cinar said that being a doctor has become one of the difficult jobs in Turkey, as doctors earn half of the poverty line, which is estimated to be around 20 thousand liras (around 1175 USD), according to a report published by labor union Turk-Is.

Cinar added that some of his friends were taking language courses in German to work there.

He believed that there is a huge brain drain underway in Turkey.

In March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that doctors who wanted to go abroad can "go ahead and leave."

Later, he softened his tone and said he believed doctors who went abroad will return home soon as Turkey promised a "bright future."

Violence against health care professionals has also been on the rise in Turkey just as medical workers are dealing with burnout after living through two years of the coronavirus pandemic.

Many are waiting for legislation to bring harsher punishments to those who assault medical professionals during line of duty, which Erdogan promised they would introduce in a March speech.

Dr. Burak Acikgoz, a Turkish doctor who emigrated to Sweden was not one of those convinced enough to stay by the discourse of the government.

Acikgoz moved to Sweden three years ago after his child was born in order to secure a brighter future for them.

After hearing he would be a father, Acikgoz said that he had to make a decision and the most suitable one was to move abroad, to Sweden.

Dr. Onur Naci Karahanci of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) argued that European countries enticed doctors with a better quality of life to secure the brightest and "cheapest" doctors from other parts of the world.

Economist and researcher Enes Ozkan of Istanbul University said that the soaring inflation in Turkey is "directly related to brain drain."

Brain drain is the term used when essential professionals from one country, typically an impoverished one, choose to leave their country to pursue their professions under better economical and democratic means.

Ozkan explained that high levels of inflation in Turkey are created by the mismanagement of the economy by Erdogan's government and that brain drain is not being experienced by other countries which are suffering from inflationary economies.

Annual inflation in Turkey hit 78.62% in June, the highest rate since 1998, according to official data released Monday.

The Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat, released the monthly figures as Turkey is experiencing a deepening cost-of-living crisis.

Consumer prices rose by 4.95% on a monthly basis, the institute reported.

Erdogan has insisted that high borrowing costs cause inflation — a position that contradicts established economic thinking — and advocats lowering interest rates to boost growth and exports.