Dozens of suspects went on trial in Istanbul on Monday over the deaths of at least 10 babies as part of a vast social security fraud scheme in Turkey’s worst health scandal in years.
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As the trial of the “newborn baby gang” opened, the courtroom on the European side of Istanbul was packed with family members and reporters, with 47 suspects expected to testify over the coming weeks.
Prosecutors believe a network of private hospital staff, from managers to doctors along with emergency call operators and ambulance drivers, conspired to send healthy babies to certain neonatal care units for financial gain.
Giving the parents false medical grounds, the defendants allegedly kept some of the infants in intensive care needlessly, sometimes for weeks at a time.
Other babies who were in need of specialised care did not receive the treatment they needed, in a scandal which shocked the nation when it was made public last month.
The night I gave birth, my baby was fine, he was healthy. The next day, they told us he had three deep-vein thrombosis, high blood pressure and was in respiratory distress
The aim was to secure a social security payment of 8,000 Turkish lira (US$230) per day which is granted to private hospitals treating newborns on top of the fee charged to the parents.