Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announces: Action taken to provide healthcare to Gaza

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca made statements on his social media account following the attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. 

Koca stated the following:

"Following the inhumane attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, I conducted telephone diplomacy with many international counterparts, including the top officials of the World Health Organization. The fundamental point in my discussions was the belief that it is unacceptable for institutions serving human health to be subjected to attacks under any conditions or for any reason. It is never possible for us to remain unresponsive to this attack. The helplessness of sick and innocent people imposes upon us, in particular, a conscientious duty that a part of the world ignores and avoids undertaking.

STATEMENT ON COOPERATION

As Turkey, we are ready to send a Hospital Ship to the region or to establish Field Hospitals in Gaza or at points close to the Rafah Border Crossing, to provide healthcare services to our Palestinian brothers and sisters through these, and to carry out these services. In my meeting with WHO Regional Director for Europe @hans_kluge, I stated that supporting the region's healthcare services is urgent and essential. We are ready to act together with the WHO to carry out these efforts if they decide to do so. In my discussions, I persistently stated that the World Health Organization also has a historical responsibility in this sense. Our views and demands on this point were also welcomed by EMRO Regional Director Ahmed Al-Mandhari, and we decided to initiate the cooperation process with our country immediately in consultation with Director-General @DrTedros. Our coordination and cooperation efforts in this direction are continuing with determination.

"WE ARE THOSE WHO CONSIDER THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AS BROTHERS"

I would like to express once again on this occasion that, despite all kinds of diplomatic difficulties, Turkey will always continue to stand by babies, children, the elderly, and innocent people. These days we are living through are historical days when the choice of whether or not to stand by humanity is made. We have no voice to listen to other than the voice of our conscience. We are those who consider the Palestinian people—with their children, elderly, sick, and women—as brothers."