Ankara- Trade Union of Employees in Public Health and Social Services (SES) Central Executive Board issued a written statement to mark the International Day of the Midwife.

Midwives have worked to reproduce life in every period of history and they have played an important role in healing, public health, and health care in history, says the statement. The statement emphasizes that the autonomous and original structure of midwives have been destroyed by health policies and they have been made invisible.

“We will not give up our demands”

The statement draws attention to the deepening problems faced by midwives, particularly during the pandemic, “Increasing heavy job workload, mobbing, and violence reinforces the occupational burnout among midwives. You clapped us, you declared us as your heroes; we don’t want any claps or to be a hero, we want our demands to be recognized. We expect a solution."

DEMANDS OF MIDWIVES

·         The statement includes the following demands of midwives,

·         Not performance-based pricing but increasing the basic wage above the poverty level according to the increasing inflation,

·         Midwives’ roles and responsibilities should be clarified and their professional independence should be reinstated under laws,

·         Free, qualified nursery service should be provided in mother language for every workspace, which is open 24/7,

·         Appropriate and qualified personal protective equipment should be provided for women workers to protect our health during the pandemic,

·         Paid parental leave should be rearranged for 24 months,

·         Since midwifery is a unique profession, its description and the scope of authority job should be determined, the obstacles to be specialized in their profession should be removed,

·         Necessary regulations should be implemented in order to remove the midwifery profession from the 'Family Health Worker' class,

·         Health and social service workers who are diagnosed with Covid-19 should be considered as occupational diseases,

·         Intern midwives should be added to the priority groups to be vaccinated.