Belgian minister hails ‘very useful’ work of field hospital in quake-hit Türkiye

BRUSSELS 

A field hospital set up by Belgium in Türkiye’s quake-hit Hatay province has proven to be “very useful,” according to Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke.

He said more than 1,500 patients have been treated so far at the facility in Hatay’s Kirikhan district.

“We are very satisfied about the deployment of this field hospital,” Vandenbroucke told Anadolu.

“Our staff has seen more than 1,500 patients who needed help, so I think it’s been very useful to be there.”

He said this was the first time Belgium “has deployed such a large field hospital.”

“It was not an easy exercise … We have never done that before, so it was a bit of a learning process,” he said, while lauding the team’s cooperation with Turkish authorities.

The field hospital was the best way for Belgium to support Türkiye, Vandenbroucke emphasized.

“Solidarity means you show the best you can show. We have a good healthcare system … so sending a hospital was maybe the best thing we could do,” he said.

The minister said there was no clear timeline for how long the Belgian field hospital would be operational in Hatay, which has been one of the areas hit hardest in the Feb. 6 twin tremors.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 temblors were centered in Kahramanmaras and rocked 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.

Some 13.5 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes, while the death toll in Türkiye is now just shy of 44,400, according to latest official figures.

• Belgium
• Field hospital.
• Frand Vandenbroucke
• Turkiye