Interference in scientific research on COVID-19 in Turkey
Over the following months, the virus rapidly spread throughout the world. The disease, COVID-19, was characterised as a pandemic by WHO on March 11, 2020. On the same day, the Turkish Ministry of Health reported the first case in Turkey.
According to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data platform, which analyses the genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, the disease reached Turkey mainly through Iran, with whom Turkey has strong commercial and touristic ties, and Saudi Arabia, where thousands of Turkish citizens travelled to visit the holy places until mid-March, 2020.
However, the excess mortality for Istanbul alone during this period was 4209 deaths. From 2016–19, the average number of deaths that occurred in Istanbul was 23 232 for the period of March 11 to July 5.
In 2020, this figure went up to 27 955 deaths. The excess mortality found between March 11 and July 5, 2020, in Istanbul was 4723 deaths.
There were at least 1952 unexplained deaths. However, the officially reported COVID-19 mortality in the same period was 2771 deaths.
The official reporting system of Turkey only covered PCR-positive cases. As of July 27, 2020, Turkey ranks fourth in the European region for cases of COVID-19, with a total number of 225 173 patients and 5596 COVID-19 deaths,
as reported by the Ministry of Health on the basis of PCR-positive cases alone.
This unprecedented decision was against the Constitution
and laws regulating research activities in Turkey. It appears that most submitted projects have been approved by the Ministry of Health, but some projects, including a large, multicentre observational study by the Turkish Thoracic Society, have been rejected without any clear explanation.
The Science Academy, a member of the International Science Council, has highlighted this fact.
The Turkish Medical Association and other professional medical organisations made a declaration through a press conference and urged the Ministry of Health to cancel their decision.
In conclusion, we, as respiratory physicians and scientists, are worried about the restrictions imposed by the Turkish Ministry of Health on independent research about the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, and we sincerely hope that the Ministry of Health’s decision will be taken back in compliance with the Turkish Constitution.
We declare no competing interests. All authors are affiliated with the Turkish Thoracic Society: HB is the President, NK is the Foreign Relations Chair, and OE is the Head of the Working Group on Health Policies, OK is the Co-Editor in Chief of the Turkish Thoracic Journal, AS is a member of the Auditing Board, and ED is a member.
References
- 1.
Novel coronavirus—China.
- 2.
Current status in Turkey.
- 3.
Genomic epidemiology of hCoV-19.
- 4.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Death Information Inquiry.
- 5.
COVID-19 weekly situation report 29/06/2020—05/07/2020 Turkey.
- 6.
International guidelines for certification and classification (coding) of COVID-19 as cause of death.
- 7.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation report—117.
- 8.
A two-months evaluation report of COVID-19 pandemic.
- 9.
Scientific research studies on COVID-19.
- 10.
Current version of Constitution of the Republic of Turkey including latest amendments 08.05.2017.
- 11.
Declaration: subjecting scientific researches about COVID-19 to the notification to The Ministry of Health is inconvenient.
Article Info
Publication History
Published: 15 August 2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
