Parliamentary Question Regarding Exclusion of Kurdish from 17-Language Health Card

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It has recently been reported in the news that while 17 different languages are included in the language cards prepared by Elazığ Medical Park Hospital for non-Turkish speaking patients, Kurdish, which is one of the most widely spoken languages in the province, has been excluded from the cards.

Diyarbakır MP of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Semra Güzel has brought the issue into parliamentary agenda.

Submitting a parliamentary question to be responded by Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, Güzel has made the following remarks:

"It is of considerable importance in doctor-patient relations that patients express themselves and explain their illnesses in their mother tongues.

"That being the case, it is one of the basic necessities that need to be met by the state that hospitals and all institutions of health provide medical services in multiple languages.

"17 different language cards have been prepared for non-Turkish speaking patients in Elazığ Medical Park Hospital. However, Kurdish, which is one of the most widely spoken languages in both Elazığ and Turkey, has not been included in the services provided by the hospital.

"The hospital administration has stated that the practice in question was done upon the instruction of the Ministry of Health.

"It has been reported in the press that though there are interpreters of Kurdish working at the hospital, Kurdish has not been included in the official list of working languages at the hospital."

"Is it deemed objectionable?"

HDP Diyarbakır MP Semra Güzel has directed a series of questions to Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, including:

• What is the justification for the exclusion of Kurdish from the language cards of a hospital which has been providing services to its patients in 17 different languages including English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch and Albanian?
• Has any action been taken by your Ministry regarding the above-mentioned incident?
• Why is Kurdish not included in the language cards of the hospital though it has been stated that the hospital has interpreters of Kurdish?
• Is it deemed objectionable by your Ministry that Kurdish is being spoken and services are provided in Kurdish?
• It is of considerable importance for an effectively functioning procedure of treatment that patients receive medical services in their mother tongues. Are you, as the Ministry of Health, working on the legalization and adoption of Kurdish as a service language considering that it is the second widely spoken language in Turkey? (AÖ/SD)