Private hospitals in Turkey have been urged to join national efforts to combat the COVID pandemic as their public counterparts are being increasingly overwhelmed.
The Turkish Medical Association (TTB) said private hospitals a spike in cases of the virus in Turkey comes as most private hospitals fail to admit COVID-19 patients or only accept ‘selective patients’.
The TTB said: “The facilities of private and charity hospitals should be made available to the citizens by the state”.
In the UK, the vast majority of private and independent sector hospital capacity was given over to supporting the health service here earlier this year.
The move has prompted calls for insurers to consider offering some form of rebate to customers who have been unable to access private care as a result.
In Turkey, thge TTB said intensive care unit (ICU) beds in state-run hospitals were almost full, with doctors struggling to find room for critically ill patients, even though the Turkish health minister said the ICU bed occupancy rate was at just over 70%.
On Sunday, Turkey reported 29,281 COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours, while 185 people died after contracting the illness, setting a daily record for the seventh consecutive day.
