General Description
The criminal organisation “newborn gang”, which turned the intensive care units of newborn babies into businesses in Istanbul, was first detected upon an anonymous tip sent to the Presidential Communication Center (CİMER) on March 27, 2023. Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Financial Crimes Department in Istanbul, it was revealed that the neonatal intensive care units of private hospitals in Istanbul were used irregularly and unfair profits were obtained from the Social Security Institution (SGK) through bribery and forgery of documents.
In the report prepared by the Istanbul Provincial Police Department, the organisation is accused in 5 different categories.
- Establishing an organisation for the purpose of committing a crime, becoming a member of the organisation, and carrying out activities on behalf of the organisation.
- Intentional murder committed by negligent behaviour (reference to infant deaths)
- Qualified fraud (unfair payments received through SSI)
4.Forgery of official documents.
5.Bribe
The accusations show that neonatal intensive care units are used as a source of income for hospitals and that babies’ lives are endangered. By cooperating with 112 Emergency Service employees, babies who could be referred to public hospitals were referred to private hospitals.
In some cases, negligence with death has occurred through treatment in hospitals with inappropriate health conditions. For example, in the epicrisis report of a baby, he was left to die in the hospital, even though he gave birth in a healthy manner. Medisense Healthcare is owned by Dr. It was determined that Fırat Sarı regularly made bribe payments under the name of “entitlement” for emergency room transfers. In this way, a system for directing patient transfers to certain hospitals was created. Members of the organisation prepared fake epicrisis reports to hide the causes of death of some babies. In a tape recording, a hospital staff’s attempt to cover up the situation was revealed by saying, “Let’s not call death sepsis, let’s write it off as 66 days.” It was also determined that items used in intensive care were shown as consumed and sold to third parties. In particular, expensive ranges in which respiratory therapy of newborns was used were distributed on the market.
Hero:Prosecutor Yavuz Engin fought against scoundrels by risking his life and family. Although he received dozens of threats, he is undoubtedly one of the biggest heroes in realising this situation and starting a case. It would be wrong not to devote a paragraph to him.
The leader of the organisation, Fırat Sarı, was previously convicted for being a member of the PKK. And he could not completely break away from the organisation, causing the death of dozens of innocent people. It will be our greatest wish that justice will be served. We offer our condolences for the death of the 21-year-old.
