Turkey opens two more emergency hospitals in Istanbul

ANKARA -Anadolu Agency

Turkey on May 31 opened an emergency hospital in the metropolis Istanbul as part of the country's continued fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

The new Yeşilköy Prof. Dr. Murat Dilmener Emergency Hospital was named after a Turkish doctor and academic who died due to the virus on May 3.

Attending the opening ceremony were President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and other top officials.

Speaking at the opening, Erdoğan stressed the importance of emergency hospitals.

"Thank Allah, we have prevented the spread of the pandemic even without a need for additional capacity we created here [in the new hospital]," he said.

The emergency hospitals put into service in the country in only two months during the COVID-19 outbreak constituted "an exemplary model," he stressed.

The country is making "very serious" progress in the health tourism, Erdoğan added.

Turkey on May 28 opened an emergency hospital in Istanbul, Dr. Feriha Öz Emergency Hospital -- named after a world-renowned Turkish pathologist who was claimed by the virus this April.

Erdoğan underlined that conditions in the aftermath of the pandemic promised to place Turkey in a "very advantageous" position in the global economy.

"We've managed to overcome the problem by building permanent hospitals in a much shorter time than many countries in the world," he said.

Hadımkoy Dr. İsmail Niyazi Kurtulmuş Hospital

Erdoğan also attended the opening ceremony of the Hadımkoy Dr. Ismail Niyazi Kurtulmuş Hospital in Istanbul, which was built during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II and has been renovated by Erdoğan's order.

Speaking at the ceremony, Erdoğan wished the hospital be beneficial for the city, country and nation.

He reiterated that the facility had functioned in the past as a military hospital for almost a century.

Erdoğan also praised Dr. Ismail Niyazi Kurtulmuş -- the hospital's namesake -- for working hard to raise a "good" and "religious" youth.

"Fortunately, we were blessed to be the ones to restore the military hospital built by Sultan Abdulhamid II in Hadımköy 129 years ago and to submit it to our nation's service," Erdoğan said on Twitter, sharing the video of the hospital's project.

Restored in 45 days, the Hadımköy Dr. İsmail Niyazi Kurtulmuş Hospital has a total capacity of 101 beds, including 59 intensive care units.