Health Minister Dr. Fahrettin Koca went to Adıyaman, which was affected by Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, and made a statement at Adıyaman Training and Research Hospital regarding the latest situation in the earthquake-ravaged provinces.
Noting that 25 field hospitals are providing services in 5 provinces in addition to the active hospitals in the earthquake zone, Dr. Koca said, apart from these, there have been established 110 emergency units across region, including 13 in Kahramanmaraş, 31 in Hatay, 11 in Malatya, 7 in Osmaniye, 18 in Gaziantep, 3 in Diyarbakır, 2 in Kilis and 25 in Adıyaman.
Dr. Koca stated that the emergency health care needs of 72,851 earthquake victims were met in these areas and added:
“We are now able to meet the need on site in the provinces affected by the disaster. In these 11 cities, the number of active service beds is 22 thousand 153 and the service bed occupancy rate is 44 percent. The number of intensive care beds is 3 thousand 374. The intensive care occupancy rate is 65 percent, so we have enough capacity. The number of the dialysis units is also sufficient to meet the needs. In this process, 252 thousand 286 patients applied to our hospitals as disaster victims. 9,733 of these patients are still receiving inpatient treatment in our hospitals, and 2,196 of them are in intensive care.”
Risks associated with infectious diseases
Stating that 11 thousand 778 serious surgeries were performed, Dr. Koca continued his words as follows:
“The number of primary care examinations in the disaster area is 1 million 571 thousand 282 as of yesterday. As the Ministry, our most specific task in the earthquake-ravaged provinces is to fight against conditions that may threaten public health, to prevent infectious diseases and to treat patients quickly.
Risks related to possible communicable diseases in the disaster area seem to be under control with the establishment of a surveillance and early warning system. From the first day of the disaster, residual chlorine measurement was made at 12,27 points in the region, and the residual chlorine ratio was found to be insufficient at 2,029 points. 4,971 samples and 18.5 percent of the samples for which water analysis was performed were found to be inappropriate. Water super chlorination still continues.”
448 health workers passed away
Stating that health services are provided in disaster areas with a total of 123 thousand 522 people, including 19 thousand 109 doctors, 67 thousand 512 health personnel, 36 thousand 901 other personnel, Dr. Koca said, “There are also 4 thousand 584 UMKE and 6 thousand 60 ambulance personnel. The number of 112 ambulances is 1267, and UMKE vehicle is 245. Some of our UMKE teams provide mobile health services and deliver medicines to chronic patients. Within the scope of mobile health services; We provided health services to more than 50 thousand patients in 76 districts and 1512 villages of Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Malatya and Adıyaman.”
Also commemorating the health workers who lost their lives in the earthquakes, Minister Koca said, "The 448 health workers passed away in the earthquakes."