President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the opening ceremony of Ismail Fehmi Cumalıoğlu Tekirdağ City Hospital. After the opening, President Erdogan and the Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca visited the hospital.
In his speech, President Erdoğan said that the city hospital would be a source of pride for Tekirdağ.
Adding that a strong state supported its citizens in difficult times, Erdoğan continued, "The coronavirus pandemic was a test for all states in that sense. All states, including the developed ones, have had the opportunity to see their true capacities. The whole world was challenged with the lack of capacity in terms of masks, ventilators, consumable goods and medication. This pandemic has revealed that the so-called wealthy states did not have strong enough healthcare capacities, enough number of healthcare personnel or comprehensive enough health insurance coverage to carry this burden."
“Our healthcare army has put up a strong fight and they continue to do so”
Pointing out that Turkey had a very strong army of healthcare workers, Erdoğan added, "This army has put up a great fight. Of course, some have lost their lives. But they have continued to fight this infection tirelessly. They have put up a strong fight and they continue to do so."
"The Ministry of Health closely follows other countries' vaccine development efforts"
Noting that the vaccine development efforts were going strong in Turkey, Erdoğan added, "As I said before, a possible vaccine should be owned by the whole humanity, and should not fall prey to profits. It is highly important that all countries, poor or rich, should be able to access this vaccine."
"The 17th city hospital"
In his speech, the Minister of Health Dr. Fahrettin Koca noted that Turkey was stepping into a new age in line with the goals set by the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Highlighting how the pandemic showed how important healthcare systems were for a country's future, Koca added, "Today, we are taking yet another step to further strengthen our healthcare system. These works will give us another opportunity to offer services to and train our healthcare workers, which we are very proud of."
"Contact tracing teams are still on the field"
Mentioning the tireless efforts all over the country, Koca continued, "The ever-increasing number of contact tracing teams are still on the field. In addition to family physicians, we have operationalized call centers in many provinces. These centers call households to check up on symptoms. I believe that we have a much more effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the healthcare investments, our robust infrastructure and our selfless healthcare workers."
"Our goal is to serve our people"
Stressing that Turkey did not need any help from the outside thanks to its strong healthcare infrastructure, Koca continued,"Turkey's healthcare infrastructure has been and continues to be of great importance during the pandemic, which emerged unexpectedly and brought the whole world to its knees. Of course, the great vision of our President was the first seed for this success. However, I believe that as our path was the right one, which is to serve our people, Allah also helped us."
© 2025 Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health All rights reserved.
