Minister of Health, Dr. Fahrettin Koca had a video conference with ambassadors of the European Union member states to Ankara. Delivering a comprehensive presentation to the ambassadors on Turkey's COVID-19 response efforts, Koca noted that he was ready for all kinds of cooperation.
The meeting, which was organized by the European Union Delegation to Turkey, was attended by the ambassadors of 26 EU member states.
In his presentation, Minister Koca highlighted that Turkey was going through the pandemic period with composure and determination under the leadership of President Erdogan. "I would like to share our successful response and our experience with you", said Koca and continued,"As you all know, full membership to the EU is Turkey's strategic goal. This pandemic period showed that Turkey will contribute the EU greatly not only in politics or economics, but also in the field of healthcare. Compared to the number of new cases, the number of cases requiring hospitalization and intensive care is decreasing. The mean age of Turkish nationals, who have lost their lives within the last month, is 74.6. 93% of the total death cases is over the age of 65. We have the capacity to perform over 50 thousand tests daily. As of today, a total of 2.209.583 tests have been performed."
Outlining the measures, treatment and diagnosis procedures implemented from day one, Koca added that Turkey had adopted a distinctive approach with the approval of the Scientific Committee. Pointing out that early treatment protocols had been able to reduce the rate of pneumonia progression from 60 to 3% in hospitalized patients, Koca also added that they had been able to lower the mortality rate in ICU patients from 58 to 7%. Koca continued,"As you have also been following very closely, the figures in Turkey show that we have been on a successful path. As the world is grappling with high mortality in elderly, Turkey has been able to keep this rate low thanks to effective treatment methods. I believe keeping the elderly at home with strict measures has been a very important factor here. We have started implementing our normalization plan, which was developed based on the guidance from our Scientific Committee and WHO's technical documents. The normal we are talking about is a "Controlled Social Life", which was designed to make sure that the Turkish people can maintain their lives in the best way possible under this pandemic. During this process, we would like to achieve success without being pessimistic and complacent."
Reminding the ambassadors that Turkey had provided medical supplies to 102 countries and some international organizations, Koca pointed out that Turkey was producing not only personal protective equipment, but also ventilators. "We have produced over 4 thousand ventilator units", said Koca.
"I believe that the EU, who has come out stronger than before from each and every crisis is has faced, will also emerge from this one stronger with solidarity", said Koca and added that over a thousand foreign patients had arrived to Turkey within the last 10 days. Noting that Turkey would become an important health tourism destination, Koca, then took questions from the ambassadors.
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