Turkey made history in health over past year: President
Number of health facilities rose 55% over past year since COVID-19 was first seen in Turkey, says Erdogan
Turkey has made history in the field of health with the devotion of its health personnel, hospitals, and strong infrastructure during the fight against COVID-19 over the past year, the nation’s president said on Thursday.
“With the sacrifice of our health army, our hospitals with a constant rise in their numbers and expanded capacities, and our strong infrastructure, we have made history in the field of health,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter, sharing efforts made in one year since the disease was first seen in the country.
Under services, Erdogan recalled that a Coronavirus Operation Center and the country's Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board were established.
He said local diagnosis kits were produced and Filiation and Isolation Tracking System was formed, while a mobile application called Life Fits Into Home was put into service.
Inactive vaccines were also started to be applied in the country, Erdogan said.
Referring to the services in vaccination, he said: “We have administered over 10 million vaccines in a very short time.”
On Jan. 14, Turkey began a mass COVID-vaccination campaign, starting with healthcare workers along with top officials to encourage public confidence in vaccines.
Erdogan said city hospitals were opened in Istanbul, Konya, and Tekirdag provinces, and noted that 25 new hospital buildings, as well as 11 annex hospital buildings, became operational over the past year.
The number of health facilities rose 55% over one year, and bed capacity of adult intensive care units by 51%, he added.
Recalling that Turkey produced an indigenous medical ventilator during the process, he said it was both used at home and exported to 20 countries.
He said that during the last year, millions of infected people and those who had contact with the cases were tracked, while over 19 million people went through health checks at border crossings.
On March 1, Erdogan announced the easing of coronavirus restrictions based on circumstances in individual provinces.
Since last December, Turkey has been implementing curfew on weeknights.
