ISTANBUL – The Turkish physician on the middle of an alleged fraud scheme that led to the deaths of 10 babies advised an Istanbul courtroom Saturday that he was a “trusted” doctor.
Dr. Firat Sari is one in every of 47 folks on trial accused of transferring new child infants to neonatal items of personal hospitals, the place they have been allegedly saved for extended and generally pointless remedies as a way to obtain social safety funds.
“Sufferers have been referred to me as a result of folks trusted me. We didn’t settle for sufferers by bribing anybody from 112,” Sari mentioned, referring to Turkey’s emergency medical telephone line.
Sari, mentioned to be the plot’s ringleader, operated the neonatal intensive care items of a number of personal hospitals in Istanbul. He’s going through a sentence of as much as 583 years in jail in a case the place docs, nurses, hospital managers and different well being employees are accused of placing monetary acquire earlier than newborns’ wellbeing.
The case, which emerged final month, has sparked public outrage and requires higher oversight of the well being care system. Authorities have since revoked the licenses and closed 10 of the 19 hospitals that have been implicated within the scandal.
“I need to inform all the things in order that the occasions will be revealed,” Sari, the proprietor of Medisense Well being Providers, advised the courtroom. “I like my occupation very a lot. I like being a health care provider very a lot.”
Though the defendants are charged with the negligent murder of 10 infants since January 2023, an investigative report cited by the state-run Anadolu information company mentioned they brought on the deaths of “tons of” of infants over a for much longer time interval.
Over 350 households have petitioned prosecutors or different state establishments searching for investigations into the deaths of their kids, in keeping with state media.
Prosecutors on the trial, which opened on Monday, say the defendants additionally falsified reviews to make the infants’ situation seem extra severe in order to acquire extra money from the state in addition to from households.
The primary defendants have denied any wrongdoing, insisting they made the absolute best choices and at the moment are going through punishment for unavoidable, undesirable outcomes.
Sari is charged with establishing a corporation with the goal of committing against the law, defrauding public establishments, forgery of official paperwork and murder by negligence.
Throughout questioning by prosecutors earlier than the trial, Sari denied accusations that the infants weren’t given the right care, that the neonatal items have been understaffed or that his staff weren’t appropriately certified, in keeping with a 1,400-page indictment.
“Every little thing is in accordance with procedures,” he advised prosecutors in a press release.
The hearings at Bakirkoy courthouse, on Istanbul’s European aspect, have seen protests outdoors calling for personal hospitals to be shut down and “child killers” to be held accountable.
The case has additionally led to requires the resignation of Well being Minister Kemal Memisoglu, who was the Istanbul provincial well being director on the time a number of the deaths occurred. Ozgur Ozel, the principle opposition get together chief, has known as for all hospitals concerned to be nationalized.
In a Saturday interview with the A Haber TV channel, Memisoglu characterised the defendants as “unhealthy apples” who had been “weeded out.”
“Our well being system is among the greatest well being methods on the earth,” he mentioned. “This can be a very distinctive, very organized legal group. It’s a mistake to guage this within the well being system as an entire.”
Memisoglu additionally denied the declare that he shut down an investigation into the claims in 2016, when he was Istanbul’s well being director, calling it “a lie and slander.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned this week that these chargeable for the deaths could be severely punished however warned towards inserting all of the blame on the nation’s well being care system.
“We is not going to enable our well being care neighborhood to be battered due to a number of rotten apples,” he mentioned.
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