New hospital in Ankara treated 2 mln patients

ANKARA

Some 2 million patients were examined at the Ankara City Hospital, which has been operating since Feb. 6, the Turkish health minister has said.

“Some 500 surgeries in a day and nearly 14,000 surgeries monthly are being carried out in this hospital. Daily ambulatory service capacity has reached 17,000 patients,” Fahrettin Koca told reporters on Dec. 25.

He strongly denied claims that surgeries were suspended at the hospital because of the lack of necessary medical materials.

The Ankara City Hospital hosts eight different hospital buildings with about 3,700 beds within its massive compound of 1.3 million square meters.

The medical compound, which is the largest one in Europe, includes 131 operating rooms at universal standards and 904 outpatient clinics which can provide health services to around 30,000 patients in a day when the facilities operate in full capacity.

“Even if we allocate money from the national budget, even if we change the financial model, we will not turn away from building, concept and functionality of the city hospitals,” Koca said in response to the critics against the public-private partnership projects in the health sector.

Turkey currently has city hospitals in the provinces of Mersin, Yozgat, Isparta, Adana, Kayseri, Elazığ, Eskişehir, Manisa and Ankara, with a total capacity of 12,000 beds.

The construction of eight city hospitals is underway, and 12 hospitals funded by the national budget will be added to them until 2023, the centenary of the Republic of Turkey, according to Koca’s remarks.