Occupational Diseases in Healthcare Professionals by Region

The Tekirdağ Union of Healthcare Workers published the report, “Occupational Diseases in Healthcare Professionals by Region” with the support of Etkiniz.

Below you can read the executive summary of the report, originally published in Turkish:

The monitoring study conducted by the Tekirdağ Sağlık-Sen [Health and Social Service Workers’ Trade Union Tekirdağ Branch] contains analysis and reports of the survey studies carried out in Tekirdağ and Istanbul.

The aim of the monitoring study is to examine the temporary or permanent diseases and physiological or psychological disabilities experienced by healthcare and social service workers due to repeated causes arising from the nature of their work or working conditions by region. The report aims to draw the attention of healthcare policymakers and social security institutions, which determine working conditions, to occupational diseases experienced by the healthcare workers and preventing possible rights violations by ensuring that the diseases which are not recognised as occupational diseases are covered by the legislation.

The target group of the study was initially determined as healthcare professionals at healthcare facilities operating under the Provincial Directorates of Health in seven regions, consisting of Istanbul, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Trabzon, Van, Ankara and Tekirdağ, and healthcare professionals working at 112 Emergency Healthcare Stations. However, due to the restrictions implemented against the COVID-19 pandemic, only the healthcare professionals working in Tekirdağ and Istanbul could be contacted.

The study analyses the relationship between the sex, occupation, age, the duration of employment, department and the duration of employment at said department of healthcare professionals working in Istanbul and Tekirdağ and certain diseases. The study then examines whether these diseases can be defined as occupational diseases. The survey prepared for this purpose was carried out face-to-face with 591 healthcare professionals in Istanbul and 600 in Tekirdağ. After processing, a data set of 1191 observations and 85 variables was obtained. The number of observations fell to 433 for Tekirdağ and 420 for Istanbul after stages of data pre-processing with 95 per cent confidence and 5 per cent margin of error.

The standards of the monitoring study were based on the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Law 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety and the definition of occupational diseases by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The findings of the human rights monitoring study are as follows: Healthcare professionals work under intense and difficult working conditions in Turkey, as they do throughout the world. It was observed that due to the working environment and conditions, dermatological diseases, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, liver diseases, renal diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, neurological diseases, psychological diseases, acute injuries and endocrine and reproductive diseases are frequently experienced among healthcare professionals. Evaluating the relationship with sex, age, occupation, institution, department and duration of employment in the department variables, a significant increase in dermatological diseases, musculoskeletal diseases and burn-out syndrome was observed due to prolonged working hours in non- ergonomic environments. The report emphasises that intense and difficult working conditions of healthcare professionals significantly increase the possibility of contacting occupational diseases. The report expresses the need for a more comprehensive study that also accounts for the physiological and psychological impacts of the pandemic by improving on the current study after the pandemic.

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