An unprecedented scandal with the victims of at least 10 newborns has shaken Turkey in recent hours.
An Istanbul prosecutor has accused 47 people, including doctors and nurses, of improperly treating newborns for profit, causing the deaths of at least 10 of them.
The case is considered one of the biggest scandals in the health sector in recent years in Türkiye.
The neighboring Ministry of Health has already closed nine private clinics while a total of 19 health institutions are involved in the case
The criminal group created by the alleged agents placed newborns in private hospitals, often to undergo false or inadequate treatments, in order to receive social security money.
Two of the suspects, who worked on an emergency telephone line, were allegedly looking for newborns who could be sent to these hospitals for intensive care.
According to the 1,399-page indictment, the newborns were victims of inadequate medical care, with medicines that, instead of ending up in them, were sold to other recipients, while some also died due to infections they contracted in the units.
The objective of the criminal group was “to obtain financial gains, and not to improve the health conditions of patients”, states the indictment.
Among the defendants are two doctors and 11 nurses.
The charges the suspects face include forming a criminal organization, fraud, falsifying official documents and manslaughter. Some defendants face up to 589 years in prison if convicted.
Twenty-two suspects were remanded in custody pending trial.