In his speech at the Parliament, Minister Koca pointed out that healthcare services are above all political considerations, and emphasized that there can be no discrimination between patients, that the healthcare services are unifying, and that the unity of 86 million people should not be harmed. Pointing out that major disasters such as floods, fires and earthquakes occurred in Türkiye in 2023, Koca said, "On the morning of February 6, our country was faced with an unprecedented disaster. Our pain is still fresh. We are in a mourning that will last for years. Earthquakes of this size and prevalence are the events where the worst possible destruction is compressed into seconds. Material damage can be compensated, but the damage to the souls of the survivors lasts for decades.” "We transferred more than 50 thousand wounded people from the earthquake zones to hospitals" Stating that an unprecedented solidarity was displayed after the earthquakes, Koca added, "Our state tried to heal the wounds with all its resources. This effort continues. Our nation did everything to support our state. Didn't we have shortcomings and deficiencies in this process? We inevitable did. Couldn't it have been done better? Yes, it could. But it should not be forgotten that disasters have devastating aspects. The resources may not be enough for you, and you may not be able to use the available opportunities in the most rational way after the shock. As the Minister of Health, I tried to do whatever I could, day and night, burying the pain of lost lives and destroyed cities. Of course, there were times when I could not meet every need or fulfill every responsibility. For these, I ask forgiveness from our citizens in your presence.” Minister Koca noted that they transferred more than 50 thousand wounded people from the earthquake zones to hospitals in safe areas by air, land and sea transport, and that this operation was an emergency health response operation that is unique in the world."The qualified bed capacity increased 13 times" While answering the criticisms about the city hospitals, Koca stated that they made regulations regarding the incomes of the contractor companies of the city hospitals built with public-private cooperation, and that they determined the limit of the maximum amount to be paid for all the city hospitals during the agreement period. Koca said, "With the regulations and amendments made, we reduced the contract periods from 25 years to 17-18 years on average with the offsets made in the contracts for the city hospitals. While providing the highest quality healthcare services to our citizens, we tried to use the resources entrusted to us with their taxes in the most efficient way." He stated that they carried out a reform in health, and added that they ensured the transition of physicians to the public sector with the change they called "white reform".Referring to the services provided in the field of health, Koca explained: "By passing the Law on Violence in Health, we brought the strongest legal protection to healthcare professionals. We ensured that all the healthcare professionals with higher education degrees benefit from 3600 additional indicators. Significant improvements were made in the personnel rights of the physicians regarding their retirement. Payments made to intern physicians and senior students of the faculty of dentistry were increased to the minimum wage level. We have put 6 public hospitals into service in the earthquake zones. In addition to the White Code practice, we also started the Gray Code practice as a pilot. As a result of our efforts, the number of White Codes decreased from 23 per 1 million to 12 per 1 million. We significantly reduced infant and maternal deaths. We increased the number of examinations performed by family physicians by 31 percent and the number of all examinations by 20 percent. We have screened more than 1 million 100 thousand couples within the scope of the Pre-marital SMA Carrier Screening Program. We have screened more than 1 million 400 thousand babies in the Newborn SMA Screening Program. Early diagnosis enabled the treatment success to exceed 90 percent. We started the Family Dentistry practice as a pilot in 3 provinces. We reached more than 10 thousand children and their families in 42 Family Dentistry units. The total bed capacity at the hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health increased to 171 thousand 932. The qualified bed capacity increased 13 times. 91 out of every 100 boxes of medicine used, and 58 percent in terms of value, are now produced in our country." Stating that the construction of the Hygiene Vaccine and Biotechnological Product Production Center has been completed and that they will start pilot production in 2025, Koca explained that their goal is to produce all the needed vaccines in Türkiye. Koca said, "We will produce three vaccines in the childhood immunization program, such as rabies, Hepatitis A and chickenpox, in Türkiye through technology transfer. All other vaccines in the immunization program will be produced in Hygiene Vaccine and Biotechnological Product Production Center. In 2028, all vaccines will be produced by 100 percent in Türkiye." Minister Koca said that they will establish a Cell and Gene Therapy Hospital for rare diseases, thus developing and applying the most up-to-date treatment, and that their efforts to establish a Health Academy for the academic structuring of the city hospitals are continuing."The public bed capacity has increased approximately 3 times in the last 5 years" Responding to criticism about the private hospitals, Koca stated that the claims on this issue do not reflect the truth and that the share of private hospitals has decreased since 2018. Minister Koca said, "When we look at the total bed capacity in the 5 years before 2018, there is an increase of approximately 12 thousand beds in the public sector. It also increased for the private sector by 12 thousand beds in the 5 years before 2018. That is, there was an increase at the same rate. When we look at the 5 years after 2018, it increased by 32 thousand 281 beds in public hospitals, which is approximately 3 times. It increased by 3,747 for the private sector. In other words, it could only increase by 1/9 compared to the public sector.” While responding to criticism about the doctors going abroad, Koca emphasized that the number of doctors going abroad is decreasing every year. Stating that 1321 physicians received a certificate of good conduct to go abroad this year, Koca said that 401 of them went abroad according to the police records. Koca also added that nearly 80 of them returned to Türkiye in the last 37 days. Referring to Israel's attacks in Gaza, Koca said: "Türkiye is the biggest objection to brutality," and added that they have delivered 13 planes and 2 ships full of aid materials to Gaza so far, and that they have primarily brought sick children and patients with cancer from Gaza to Türkiye with the tripartite coordination team which they decided to establish as a result of their meetings with the health ministers of Israel and Egypt. Koca said, "We can heal more wounds. For this reason, we are trying to reach and treat as many oppressed people as we can by keeping our dialogue with the parties alive."
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