Privatization of health and publicization of violence: violence toward doctors in Turkey

In recent years, health professionals have been suffering from widespread violence in Turkey as well as in the world. Based on the data obtained from a fieldwork in Gaziantep and Kilis, this article aims to discuss neo-liberal transformation of the health sector and the consequences of this transformation in effecting violence toward doctors. The data shows that physicians working at public health institutions are the main victims of verbal and physical attacks coming from mostly patients and their companions. The social and economic context within which the violence toward physicians takes place is a process of restructuring of the provision of health service based on neo-liberal market logic. The health services and field are increasingly being shaped and redefined in accordance with economic logic like efficiency, profit, cost, competitiveness, and so on. These policy changes in the health sector have resulted in differentiation of health services, devaluation of public services, the stigmatization of employment in and consumption of, public health services as signs of low status as well as devaluation of general practitioners’ practices.