Health Minister Dr. Fahrettin Koca went to the field hospital established in the garden of Hatay Training and Research Hospital after the earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6, which affected 10 provinces and described as the “disaster of the century”. Minister Koca then evaluated the latest situation at the Disaster Coordination Center.
Minister Koca, who met with health workers and relatives of the injured, received information about the latest situation from the authorities.
“We are striving to make an extraordinary effort”
Minister Koca stated that they have activated field hospitals to provide health services and continued his statement as follows:
“We experienced the difficulties caused by the unsuitable weather conditions for both the ambulance and the plane. For this reason, we created a corridor from Adana City Hospital by adding approximately 610 ambulances. After making the first intervention to our patients from here, we quickly sent them to Adana City Hospital. Currently, the number of the transferred patients has exceeded 4,100. The old building in the former SSK campus in İskenderun was demolished. The patients there were mainly transferred to Mersin City Hospital by land and sea. The number of the transferred patients has reached 6,200.”
Expressing that health workers from all corners of the country come to the region, Dr. Koca said, “We are making extraordinary effort. The number of health workers present here has reached 7 thousand.”
After 2 days, an additional field hospital will be operational
Noting that they started to establish field hospitals on the one hand, Dr. Koca said:
“It will be possible to perform surgery in this field hospital we have established. I am talking about a hospital that has both intensive care and tomography. An additional field hospital will be operational in about 2 days. We are also putting the hospital, which has a third operating room, into operation. Furthermore, 12 field hospitals are operational here. We see that the patient density here is gradually decreasing. Since the university hospital is in good condition, we have started to use it more intensively in the last days. As of now, we will put this hospital into use as the central hospital. This tertiary care center, where we can also treat the risky patient, will be a university hospital in the next period.”
Concerning the number of field hospitals in the earthquake zones, Dr. Koca said, “There are 77 field hospitals in total. We are increasing their number day by day. We want to increase the number of these, especially in container cities and large settlements, including tent cities. At the same time, we are trying to solve the drug problem through these hospitals.”
Furthermore, Minister Koca stated that the health system is operational in the entire disaster area.
Stating that there are injured people whose identification is yet to be completed, Dr. Koca said that they continue to share every information reached with all units as quickly as possible.
Sharing information on the state of health services in the region, Dr. Koca said, “After the emergency treatment of the injured rescued from the rubble, a total of 20 thousand patients were transferred to provinces outside the region to continue their treatment by air, land ambulances and sea vehicles.”
Minister Koca also stated that he wanted to share an important information and said:
“Health services are provided in field hospitals and units in our tent cities established by AFAD in the disaster area. Medicines are also provided in these centers. With the new regulation, temporary and mobile pharmacies will continue to be opened in the provinces affected by the earthquake. We have many pharmacies in the area that have been damaged and cannot be opened due to building security. We do not want any obstacles to our citizens' access to health services. We will allow our pharmacists, especially regional pharmacists, to serve the earthquake region by opening mobile pharmacies.”
Noting that tent cities were established at 7 locations under the coordination of AFAD, Dr. Koca said, “A total of 9,102 tents were distributed and installed. Hot meals are distributed at 73 locations in 10 districts. Meals have been distributed to 404,780 people so far. 21 more places will be added to these locations,” he said.
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