Türkiye ready to accept Gazan children with cancer: Koca

ANKARA

Ankara will soon initiate the transfer process of children with cancer from Gaza to Türkiye for their treatment, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has announced.

"We will start bringing children with cancer to Türkiye as soon as possible. We are waiting for the patients to be transported to Egypt by ambulances and from there to be brought to Türkiye by airplane ambulances for treatment. We are also delivering medicines, medical devices, eight field hospitals, 20 ambulances and 500 tons of aid equipment on a ship that is expected to set sail today [on Nov. 9],” Koca said in his speech during the budget talks in the parliament on Nov. 9.

Noting that he had a phone call with Israeli Health Minister Uriel Menachem Buso late on Nov. 8, Koca said that he expressed his strong stance as both the health minister and a doctor on the talks with his Israeli counterpart, stating that no form of violence is acceptable.

Reminding that the Turkish-run hospital, the only medical institution in the Gaza Strip providing cancer treatment, has been rendered inoperative due to Israeli airstrikes, Koca said he conveyed his expectations regarding the secure transit process for patients, starting with children whose cancer treatments were left unfinished. An agreement was reached with his Israeli counterpart on this matter, he added.

"The humanitarian tragedy in Gaza continues to intensify with the inability to provide health services. The destruction caused by Israel in Gaza has left all values of humanity under rubble. We have been in coordination with the Egyptian Health Minister since the first day [of the Israel-Hamas war] to support health services, including the establishment of field hospitals,” Koca added.

In the meantime, Şükrü Yorulmaz, a senior official from the Health Ministry, announced that a ship carrying field hospitals, ambulances, medicines and medical equipment for the people of Gaza will depart from the western province of İzmir to Egypt on Nov. 9.

He also mentioned that they have equipped 20 field hospitals to serve at 20 different locations and have prepared 20 ambulances for any urgent needs in the region.