Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to guarantee the safety of healthcare services to be provided in Gaza following Israel's attacks on Gaza.
Koca shared the letter he wrote to WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on his social media account.
He began his letter by saying, "Life in Gaza, if it can be called 'life', has been under very harsh war conditions for more than two weeks... I am aware of the attention you are paying to this extraordinary situation as the Director-General of the World Health Organization. Above all, I can guess how you feel as a human being and as a human health advocate devoted to the service of humanity”, and thanked him and the organization he is a member of for all their efforts to provide Gaza with the healthcare services it deeply needs.
Koca underlined that what can be done for Gaza, where innocent civilians lost their lives and injured children cannot access healthcare, is much more than what has been done so far, and he stated that he wholeheartedly believes in this.
Minister of Health Koca noted the following in his letter:
"The days we live in impose a mission on the World Health Organization to prevent further violations of human dignity. I have no doubt that with the decisions you will lead to be taken, the opportunities you will mobilize and also your personal dignity, you can take steps that will make the expectations of the world communities come true and for which we will be greatly grateful. It is not an acceptable phenomenon to see that WHO is far behind expectations, or even to know that it is behind political wills. I do not think that our expectation from this institution, which is in its 75th year and has achieved successful results against many crises so far, is an expectation that exceeds its strength.
We demand that the obstacles in front of us be removed in order to provide healthcare services to children who are injured or whose cancer treatment is unfinished, and of course, we expect with great hope that this institution of which we are a member will demonstrate its power much beyond this. The World Health Organization must guarantee the safety of healthcare services in Gaza with its leadership responsibility and by taking urgent necessary initiatives."
Pointing out that Türkiye is ready to deliver the necessary healthcare services to Gaza for the victims of the war, especially sick children, and to treat the wounded, and has made the necessary preparations, Koca concluded his letter by saying, "What is missing to save lives is the creation of the necessary conditions. One of the mottos of World the Health Organization is 'health for all' and the other one is 'leaving no one behind'. As a Minister of Health, as a human being and as a father, my call to you is to reaffirm that these two mottos are true. I convey the expectant greetings of all of Türkiye. Best regards.”
