ANKARA- The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Central Council requested the Ministry of Health to share the situation related to the coronavirus outbreak openly and transparently. In the article, TTB included 19 questions demanding urgent answer.

 

In the article carrying the signature of  Prof. Dr. Sinan Adıyaman, the President of the TTB Central Council, which was sent to the Minister of Health Dr. Fahrettin Koca it was stated: "In these days that the COVID-19 pandemic has spread rapidly all over the world, we have ben emphasizing from the beginning that the most needed thing is transparency and informing the society fully about the process".

 

For these reasons, the Central Council of the TTB asked the Ministry of Health the following questions to be answered urgently:

 

“* How is the distribution of the confirmed cases according to the provinces and districts based on where they live, based on their age and their gender?

 

* How does the international contact history of the diagnosed cases differ by the country they visited?

 

* As of today, how many provinces and centers conduct tests in our country?

 

* How many (based on days) of each diagnostic / screening test has been done so far? How many tests are planned to be carried out nationwide starting today?

 

* What is the number of tests that are positive for each type of diagnosis / screening test by days? What is the positivity rate of the those cases where the first test was negative and the second test was positive?

 

* How many types of diagnostic / screening tests are being used? What are the validity features (sensitivity, selectivity, positive and negative predictive values) of the tests used?

 

* What is the time gap between the application of patients for the test and the conclusion of the tests?

 

* How is the distribution of symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea, etc.) in the cases with confirmed diagnosis?

 

* What are the chest x-ray findings and computed tomography findings in cases with confirmed diagnosis?

 

* How many of the cases whose diagnosis has not been confirmed have been performed chest x-ray and / or computed tomography? How many of the cases with unconfirmed diagnosis have been detected classical or possible imaging findings for COVID-19?

 

* How long is the time gap between positive imaging findings (chest radiography and / or computed tomography) and confirmation of the diagnosis?

 

* As of today, what is the number of hospitals with confirmed diagnosis by provinces or possible/suspicious COVID-19 patients? What is their institutional / sectoral distribution (Ministry of Health, public university, foundation university, private sector)?

 

* Which drugs have been used until now in cases with confirmed diagnosis? What is the response rate to treatment with these drugs?

 

* What is the number of drugs that can be used in treatment nationwide and number of cities?

 

* Are the current stocks of these drugs sufficient according to the number of patients and the need forecasted by your Ministry? Is the distribution of these drugs on the basis of hospitals adequately organized? How many of the hospitals can provide the drugs at a sufficient level, and how many of the drugs are lacking?

 

* Considering that the logarithmic increase in the number of patients is sharper than other countries: What is the number of beds and ventilators in intensive care units in the country compared to the provinces? Are these numbers sufficient to meet the anticipated need? What measures are considered for possible deficiencies?

 

* How many healthcare workers are there with confirmed diagnosis? What is their occupation (physician, nurse, health technician etc.), institution (ASM, 2nd level hospital, 3rd level illness) and provincial distribution?

 

* The inability to detect SARS-CoV-2 positive healthcare workers will facilitate the spread of the disease to other healthcare workers, patients and the social environment of healthcare workers. How many healthcare workers have been tested so far? How soon does the Ministry anticipate to conduct tests on all healthcare workers, who are in contact with patients and likely to become infected?

 

* There are intense complaints from our physicians that personal protective materials are not sufficient. Failure to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 disease is one of the risk factors that may hinder the fight against the epidemic in the future. It is one of our top priorities that health institutions do not force healthcare workers to provide services to patients with suspected / evidence of COVID-19 without protective equipments are supplied and that the deficiencies and lack of of protective equipment shall be resolved immediately. For these reasons: Is our personal protective material stock and production capacity at a level that meets your anticipated needs? Is there enough number of organizations in the distribution of these materials to the  hospitals? Is there distribution to the university hospitals besides the hospitals affiliated with your Ministry?"