53 in intensive care in Ankara bombing, says Health Ministry undersecretary

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

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Health Ministry Undersecretary Eyüp Gümüş has announced that a total of 53 patients are in intensive care and receiving treatment after the Oct. 10 Ankara bombing which left at least 97 dead and hundreds wounded.

“At the Health Ministry’s public hospitals, university and private hospitals, the state of 31 losses in total remains [after the ministry’s initial statement of 86]. There is no increase in the death toll. Some 53 patients are in the intensive care unit with five transferred to service. A total of 131 patients are receiving treatment and 356 were discharged,” Gümüş told reporters after an Organization of Islamic Cooperation Cancer Screening and Monitoring meeting in Ankara.

Meanwhile, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) apologized on Oct. 13 for giving the death total as 128 on the day of the attack, citing efforts at obstruction from the Health Ministry.

“After the massacre, it has been understood that there has been a mistake in the death toll we provided due to the problems and obstacles in obtaining information from official authorities, primarily from health institutions and the Health Ministry, problems in piecing the lists obtained from different institutions together at a crisis desk, the existence of the missing, the numbering system at the Forensic Medicine Institute and the state of many of the bodies. All these factors made it harder to announce the exact death toll. We apologize to the public and our people for this mistake,” the party said in a statement.

Commenting on the issue of calls for blood donations made in hospital yards after the attack, Gümüş said the ministry would file a criminal complaint against those who made the announcements, adding the person who made a call for blood at the Numune Hospital’s yard was not a medical worker. A total of 150 people rushed to the hospital following the announcement, causing disruptions in the blood center, Gümüş added.

The ministry will also provide psychological support for those who were wounded, inpatients and their relatives in coordination with the Family and Social Policies Ministry, he also said.

Health Ministry Deputy Undersecretary İrfan Şencan also said there were sufficient reserve blood supplies at all hospitals.

The Oct. 10 Ankara bombing ahead of a peace rally in the country’s capital left at least 97 dead and hundreds wounded.