ELAZIĞ – Elazığ It was revealed that there was no hospital in the district after the Sivrice-based earthquake. The townspeople who applied to the Ministry and Provincial Health Directorate with a petition 10 days before the earthquake said that they were left to die. SES Branch Co-chair Derya Coşkun stated that public health in the district is neglected.
There is no hospital in Sivrice district, which is the epicenter of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Elazig. Although there were 3 major earthquakes in Sivrice district, no steps were taken regarding the construction of the hospital. 41 people lost their lives and more than 600 people were injured in the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred again on January 24 at 20.55 in Sivrice. 3 people died in the village of Cevimlitas and 2 people were rescued with the efforts of the local people.
According to the latest data released by TurkStat in 2018, the people of Sivrice, which has a population of 10 thousand and 52 has villages, has never been able to benefit from health care. There is only the Family Community Health Center in the district center. There are 2 permanent emergency practitioners and 3 family physicians. While there is 1 ambulance in the health center, there are no devices that can treat patients such as analysis, blood pressure, x-ray, and laboratory. Nothing can be done about the cases that requires urgent intervention. 1 doctor and 1 nurse stay on duty at night. A second case that comes to the Health Center cannot be intervened.
While there are hospitals in all districts of Elazig, no hospitals have been built in Sivrice district to date. Hospital demand of the townspeople was slurred over by authorities making promises and not keeping them.
It was learned that the people of Sivrice organized a campaign and collected signitures and send them to the Ministry of Health and the Provincial Health Directorate 10 days before the earthquake, emphasizing the fact that the district is on a fault line.
District resident Zehra Öztürk, who has made every attempt to get the construction of a new hospital to start, stating that they have been in contact with all official institutions and politicians for the last 2 years, said: "“We have expressed our problems both verbally and in writing. However, we did not get any results at all. We even sent the petitions we collected 10 days before the earthquake to the Provincial Health Directorate and the Ministry of Health. We did not recieve any response as usual. They are making promises and never keeping them. We are left to die here while the world watches."
MA / Semra Turan