Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca made a statement last week following the Coronavirus Scientific Committee meeting, admitting that the official daily numbers imply patients admitted to hospital rather than the total coronavirus cases.
Koca did not explain why the number of total cases that play a role in the contagion has not been announced.
"Not every case is sick, there are some who have a positive test but do not show any symptoms. They make up the majority… Simply put, another thing we need to know is that symptomatic people are carriers. The number of new patients that are announced and focused on each day should be an issue of attention," said Koca.
The minister explained that a change was made in the daily coronavirus table on 29 July to indicate total number of patients admitted to hospital for treatment for Covid-19.
However, the World Health Organization and the “worldometers” data for Turkey based on official figures indicate the number of cases, which are announced as patients. In other words, total case number for Turkey is unknown.
Answering the claims that the case and death numbers are much higher than the ones officially announced, Koca said “There are interesting claims about the number of deaths. I am addressing especially those that are expected to lead debates on this issue: if you are looking for a numeric win please do not violate the spirit of the struggle, respect our records. To those on the score quest: what are your intentions by trying to look for high numbers? These numbers are those on the government websites and from the Turkey Statistics Institution (TÜİK)".
Turkish Medical Association's (TTB) former Central Council Chair Prof. Dr. Sinan Adıyaman called for the resignation of Koca.
Responding to Koca’s statement on September 30 on Twitter, Adıyaman said: “We have been saying this for 6 months. You have not conducted the process transparently. You have hidden the facts. You have not prevented the spread of this pandemic. Dear Minister, RESIGN !!!!”.
[TTB previously claimed that the number of Covid-19 cases was not given correctly, which led the leaders to be targeted with threats of closure by the leader of the government’s partners in the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP] (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir
