A security member stands guard in front of the Bakirkoy courthouse, on the opening day of Turkey's newborn gang trafficking case trial, in Istanbul, on November 18, 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
Istanbul: Dozens of suspects went on trial in Istanbul Monday over the deaths of at least 10 babies as part of a vast social security fraud scheme in Turkiye's worst health scandal in years.
As the trial of the so-called "newborn baby gang" opened, the courtroom on the European side of Istanbul was packed with family members and reporters, with 47 suspects due 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 aim was to secure a social security payment of 8,000 Turkish lira ($230) per day which is granted to private hospitals treating newborns on top of the fee charged to the parents. The profits were then shared out between them.
The indictment, which is almost 1,400 pages long, said at least 10 babies died as a result of negligence and improper treatment over several years.
The inquiry began in May 2023 and by the end of October, investigators were looking into some 350 complaints, Turkish media reports said.
As the trial began, demonstrators outside the courthouse lined up a row of empty pushchairs, one of which bore the slogan "Dead children don't grow up."
