The Ministry of Health Dr. Fahrettin Koca presented the 2021 budget of the Ministry of Health at the Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission and received questions from the members of the parliament. Deputy health ministers and senior officials of the Ministry also attended the meeting.
During the meeting where the 2021 budget of the Ministry of Health and its affiliates was discussed, Minister Koca stressed that the primary agenda was the global pandemic.
"Considerable progress in key health indicators"
Minister Koca said that the goal was to have a Turkey where the whole society adopted a healthy lifestyle, everyone's right to health was safeguarded, and those in need could easily and timely access high-quality healthcare services.
Koca added that the maternal mortality rate reduced from 64 to 13 per 100,000 live births and the infant mortality rate from 31.5 to 6.7.
"We protect children from possible future diseases"
"As the Ministry, we are prioritizing safe delivery" said Koca and added, "We perform the necessary scans on babies so that they can start their lives as healthy as possible. We provide free iron and vitamin D supplements. This way, we protect around 7 thousand children from possible future diseases."
"The frequency of obesity is 34%"
Noting that the Ministry was fighting obesity being one of the most important risks before public health, Koca continued, "The frequency of obesity is 34%. Our goal is to increase the number of obesity centers to 140 in 2021."
"The number of ambulances to be increased to 6,340 next year"
Adding that the Ministry of Health was ready to disasters and emergencies in terms of human resources and equipment, Koca added, "We have set up an emergency healthcare services organization covering the whole country. In 2020, we transported 5.5 million people to hospitals via ambulances. Our goal is to increase the number of ambulances from 5,930 to 6,340 in 2021. We have 17 helicopter ambulances and 3 aircraft ambulances. From 2008 to October 2020, we have transported 49,000 cases using air ambulances. 6 ambulance boats transported 23,000 cases."
"Family practice will be strengthened"
Noting that the number of consultations increased three-fold, Koca continued, "Our plan is to strengthen family practice to make sure that we reduce unnecessary consultation to secondary and tertiary healthcare services."
"81 project applications received and 42 projects supported"
Koca said that project calls were opened in 7 fields, and added,” The goal of these calls is to produce strategically important vaccines, drugs, medical devices and diagnostic kits. Under these calls, 81 project applications were received and 42 projects were supported. Turkey's first national biobank and ohmics center at Aziz Sancar Research Center."
"The number of healthcare workers has surpassed 1 million 100 thousand"
Adding that it was of vital importance to effectively manage resources to offer high-quality healthcare services with limited human resources, Koca continued, "The number of healthcare professionals has surpassed 1 million 100 thousand. On April 15, 2020, we passed a legal regulation here at the Parliament to wage war against violence in healthcare. On this occasion, I would like to thank the members of the parliament. We are determined to fight violence from every aspect."
"Turkey's healthcare system was not unprepared for the pandemic"
Saying that the fight with the pandemic started in December 2019, Koca said, "Turkey's healthcare system was not unprepared for the pandemic, unlike other countries. The Pandemic Influenza National Preparedness Plan was published in 2019."
Koca also added that Turkey donated protective equipment to 159 countries out of solidarity and continued, "A widespread contact-tracing was performed to make sure that contacts of cases are detected and isolated. Family practitioners and call centers closely monitored those in isolation."
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