Erdoğan speaks at Medicine Day Iftar Program: 'We still encounter reports of violence, albeit limited'

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke about efforts in the healthcare sector at the "March 14 Medicine Day Iftar Program" held at the Haliç Congress Center. Erdoğan stated that they have made progress in the field of health and have implemented improvements through the White Reform.

Highlights from Erdoğan's speech are as follows:

"I celebrate the Medicine Day of all our doctors and all our healthcare workers. On behalf of my country and my nation, I express my gratitude to every member of the health army serving in healthcare institutions across our country. There is no one else who receives as many prayers as our healthcare personnel while earning a living for their own home. There is no substitute for finding healing for a patient who is in pain and seeking hope. You are performing such a high-level spiritual duty. We are all aware that there is no blessing more valuable than health.

TOUCHED ON THE COVID PROCESS

Access to healthcare services is as important as health itself. We saw this especially during the COVID pandemic. This pandemic, which affected our country along with the whole world, showed us that health investments cannot be neglected. Despite the ill intentions of certain circles, Turkey has reaped the rewards of investing in its health infrastructure. Thanks to you, we managed this process successfully. We left this difficult period behind in a way that did not allow for a situation that would embarrass our state before its citizens.

On February 6, we once again saw the importance of health infrastructure. We have opened 24 city hospitals. Our city hospitals have become symbols in the fight against earthquakes and pandemics. These modern health bases, which were attempted to be blocked by being labeled as waste, played critical roles in both of these processes. We aim to bring a city hospital to every city. Currently, the construction of 14 of them is ongoing. When we first took office, those without economic means could not receive proper healthcare services. Hospitals had turned into a cycle of torment that citizens prayed to avoid, rather than being havens of healing. We took the necessary steps to ensure our people receive the best healthcare services. Everyone accepts that there is no country in the world that can hold a candle to Turkey in terms of health infrastructure. We have reached such a level that our patients are no longer going abroad; people from many different countries around the world are seeking healing in Turkey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people entrust their health to you, to Turkish physicians. We see that Turkey's share of health tourism is gradually increasing. In the first quarter of this year, the number of applications exceeded 225 thousand. I believe we will reach much better positions in health tourism.

WHITE REFORM

We have not neglected our healthcare workers, and we are not doing so now. We have supported our health staff in every area, from personal rights to working conditions. We have made improvements through a series of changes we call the White Reform. We transferred fixed payments to the central budget and increased additional payments. We included violence against healthcare workers within the scope of catalog crimes. We still encounter reports of violence, albeit limited. We have no tolerance for attacks on our healthcare workers, and we cannot have any."