If 10 times are not enough: The farce of Erciş Hospital

Opened again before the 24 June elections, it's now closed and will be reopened before local elections.

The AKP government has officially opened the Erciş State Hospital in Van 10 times.

Yet it seems that 10 times are not enough and indeed, the government will close the hospital once more only to reopen it with much noise just before the local elections, scheduled for 2019. 

The dramatic farce has been going on for ten years, since when the hospital in Van was first founded in 2008. 

The AKP government is using the hospital as a sort of 'magic rabbit' to take out of the hat just before every elections to show how much the party cares about people's health. 

The new Erciş State Hospital, which was previously announced to be completed in 2012, was then reopened on the days before the 24 June elections.

There is neither a doctor, a health worker nor a medical device in the hospital opened by the AKP for the 10th time. 

Many patients who heard of the opening found the building empty when they went there: there were no doctors nor medical devices. 

After the AKP's ‘hospital lie’, the people of Erciş have to take patients back to Van. The people have it clear that this is yet another lie by the AKP, given that they cannot get any support from people here.

Today is open, tomorrow is close

“The AKP has been opening and closing this hospital for 10 years, especially in the election period, they open the hospital and close it again later” say people in Erciş.

“In this election, - they said - the AKP in Erciş have no interest in what the people want. They will melt away in Van. They opened this hospital time and time again for 10 years with ceremony and all, and then closed it again. But with these lies they actually deceived themselves. The AKP got the answer they deserved on 24 June. People are tired of these lies and of the AKP's attitude towards Kurds”.

In 2011, when the earthquake of 7.4 magnitude hit Van, 600 people died in Erciş, a town with a population of 200,000. 

Erciş State Hospital was severely damaged by the earthquake, was evacuated and then painted and reopened.

Some of the hospital wards have been transferred in prefabricated buildings put up in the hospital's garden. 

The people of Erciş have been treated in the seriously damaged building and prefabricated for 7 years. 

Patients in Erciş, where thousands of patients are under one doctor, have to go to Van for treatment. 

Last April a woman had to give birth in a waiting room because there was no doctor to attend her. She lost her baby.