In a videoconference, Fahrettin Koca and WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge discussed the latest developments on the pandemic, and also signed a two-year cooperation agreement.
WHO DIRECTOR PRAISED TURKEY’S EFFORTS
“Inspiring discussion with Health Minister @drfahrettinkoca on regional & global role of @WHO/ Turkey cooperation on #COVIDー19, focus longterm #HealthSystems strengthening. We signed the Biennial Agreement 2020-2021 in line with #EPW #GPW #UnitedActionforBetterHealth,” Kluge said on Twitter.
Kluge thanked Turkey for helping many countries, including Italy and Spain, and said that the community should be mobilized with minimum physical contact for fighting the coronavirus. “I would like to express my sincere appreciation and thank you, your excellency, for your international solidarity,” the WHO official said.
Kluge also praised Turkey on sharing the latest data on coronavirus figures, as well as congratulated Turkish health minister on the electronic platform on mortality data. “This is unique. Congratulations!” he said.
Koca, for his part, emphasized that Turkey is aware that the pandemic will be the beginning of a new era and that there will be fundamental changes in the economic, political, cultural and lifestyle aspects globally.
Noting that there are many requests from abroad regarding the protective material supply, Koca said: “We made efforts to meet the needs of nearly 30 countries. Most recently, Germany had a 2 million masks request. We will be providing it in the next few days. The UK also made a new request. Similarly, we will provide this support to the UK. In this process, I would like to say that there are 88 countries requesting equipment from us.”