Turkish agency offers worldwide health sector support

A Turkish aid agency has carried out numerous significant projects to boost the health sector of various countries around the world.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) established a therapy center at the Institute of Child Health Shishu Sasthya Foundation Hospital in Dhaka -- the second-largest hospital in Bangladesh -- where 700 to 1,500 children are served daily with 250-bed-capacity, TIKA said in a statement on Thursday.

The center aims to support treatment in general medical services, surgical interventions, neurological sciences, newborn special care, oral and dental health, dermatology, eye health and in the study of diseases targeting the nose, throat and ear.

The statement said that due to the lack of a neurophysiology laboratory in the hospital, a large number of patients were referred to different hospitals. Now, sick children will receive treatment in the therapy center.

In Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the Mother and Child Health Support Program (MCHFP) is being organized by TIKA.

The program offers courses to 60 newborn specialists, midwives and nurses in various hospitals in the country. Certificates were given to 30 people who completed a three-day course as part of the first stage of the program.

TIKA vice president Mehmet Sureyya Er said TIKA attaches great importance to health sector activities in Uzbekistan. In fact, TIKA will deliver 150 ambulances in the next three years to Azerbaijan.

Deputy Health Minister of Uzbekistan Elvira Basithanova thanked TIKA for its contributions.

Since it was founded 26 years ago, TIKA has carried out projects in a wide range of areas, such as education, health, infrastructure, and cultural heritage preservation in many regions of the world from the Balkans to the Middle East, and Africa to Latin America.