AKIN STERK

Amed — Despite more than three years having passed since the (İmek) and (Şeyh Şamil) family health centers were damaged by the earthquake, construction work on a new building for them has not yet begun. Doctors and healthcare workers continue to provide services in a small temporary facility.

Since the earthquake that struck Maraş province on February 6, 2023, the health infrastructure problems in Amed have persisted. After the health centers were rendered inoperable, services were transferred to a temporary location inside the "Ferzad Kemenger Public Library" belonging to the Rezan (Bağlar) Municipality.

Family doctors and healthcare workers have been working for over three years in only two rooms, sharing the same space, which prevents the provision of necessary privacy for patients. Moreover, the available resources do not meet the minimum requirements for healthcare delivery.

Doctors use the ground floor of the building to receive patients, while injections, wound dressing, and blood sample collection are carried out in the basement, which staff describe as unhygienic and not meeting the required cleanliness standards for medical services.

Despite the difficult conditions, the medical staff continue to provide services to approximately 35,000 to 40,000 people. Staff indicate that the European Union allocated funding conditional on establishing a health center for migrants, yet the project has not been implemented to date. Additionally, no land has been allocated for a new center, forcing health teams to continue their work within an educational building.

This reality reflects the scale of challenges facing the health sector in northern Kurdistan and Turkey, and the difficulties experienced by its workers, according to doctors who also affirm that the building they work in is simultaneously used for educational activities and health services, negatively affecting the workflow in both fields—both for healthcare workers and for students.

On June 30, the district governor visited the temporary health center and met with the neighborhood headman and staff. During the meeting, it was announced that the new building project had been completed and that tender procedures would begin on July 25, with the center expected to become operational about one year after construction is completed. However, healthcare workers confirmed that similar statements had been repeated numerous times over the past three years without any materializing on the ground.

For their part, trainers at the "Ferzad Kemenger Public Library" explained that the decision to transfer the two health centers to the municipal building was taken during the trustee administration period, noting that using the building for both health and educational purposes simultaneously has also disrupted the educational process and created further problems within the institution.