The 50-bed Akçakoca State Hospital, which was completed in the Akçakoca district of Düzce, was opened by the Minister of Health, Prof. Dr. It was put into service with a ceremony held with the participation of Kemal Memişoğlu.
Düzce Governor Mehmet Makas, Düzce Mayor Faruk Özlü, Provincial Health Director Yasin Yılmaz, protocol members, department heads, healthcare workers and guests also attended the ceremony.
The hospital, which has a total closed area of 21 thousand 881 square meters, also includes 28 polyclinics, 15 intensive care beds, 3 operating rooms and a dental polyclinic.
Speaking at the opening, Minister Memişoğlu touched upon the investments made in the field of health under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and said, "In the last quarter century, under the leadership of our President, we have reached a strong capacity with our health army of 1.5 million.
We also strengthened the health infrastructure of Düzce.
We have added 10 new hospitals to our city since 2002.
The construction of our family health center continues in Düzce center and Cumayeri district.
In addition, we are about to complete the project work of our 400-bed additional building, which will increase the capacity of Düzce Atatürk State Hospital.
Congratulations to Düzce in advance.
We strengthen healthcare services with new devices.
We introduced the pet device the other day, we will introduce new devices.
"We will ensure that our cancer patients have access to diagnosis and treatment processes in their own cities," he said.
'WE WILL ENSURE THAT OUR CITIZENS HAVE ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES AT HOME'
Stating that a new project regarding home health services will be implemented, Memişoğlu continued as follows:
"We are creating a new model by integrating home health and remote health services.
We started our Home Health Services Coordination Center project.
We will ensure that our citizens who will receive home health care have easy access to the service.
We will coordinate so that our patients treated in the hospital will continue their treatment at home after they are discharged.
We will also include our family physicians in the project.
We also integrate digital services accordingly.
We are implementing the 3rd model of healthcare services, from the hospital to the home.
"We will ensure that our citizens have access to health services not only in the hospital but also in their homes."
HE ALSO ATTENDED THE OPENING OPENINGS IN ZONGULDAK ALAPLI
Minister of Health Kemal Memişoğlu came to Alaplı district of Zonguldak after the opening of Akçakoca State Hospital.
Minister Memişoğlu attended the opening ceremony of 'Alaplı State Hospital and Karadeniz Ereğli Oral and Dental Health Center'.
At the ceremony, Zonguldak Governor Osman Hacıbektaşoğlu, AK Party Zonguldak MPs Muammer Avcı, Saffet Bozkurt and Ahmet Çolakoğlu, Public Hospitals General Director Assoc.
Dr.
Muhammed Emin Demirkol, Health Investments General Manager Adem Yılmaz, healthcare personnel and citizens were present.
After the prayers, the opening ribbon was cut and a souvenir photo was taken.
Minister Memişoğlu and his entourage visited the units in the hospital and received information from the authorities.
Speaking at the opening, Minister Memişoğlu said, "Healthy life begins within life.
We all have a role to play in the fight against excess weight, inactivity and tobacco addiction.
We must make movement a part of our daily lives.
While we take care of our own health, we should also teach our children the right habits.
Health is man's greatest wealth.
Protecting this wealth is possible not only by treating diseases, but also by preventing the risks that cause diseases before they occur.
"With this understanding, we continue our fight against habits that threaten public health with determination," he said.
'TOBACCO COSTS THE LIVES OF MORE THAN 100 THOUSAND PEOPLE EVERY YEAR'
Minister Memişoğlu stated that Turkey is the second in the world in terms of smoking rate and said, “The fight against tobacco is not only a matter for smokers, but for all of us.
Because tobacco costs the lives of more than 100 thousand people every year.
Today, unfortunately, Türkiye ranks second in the world in terms of smoking rate; In our country, unfortunately, 1 in every 3 people, 33 percent of our population, uses tobacco.
Unfortunately, we are among the first in the world in terms of lung cancer incidence in men.
Another important issue is the age at which our children become acquainted with smoking. More than half of tobacco users in Turkey start this habit before the age of 18.
73.3 percent of children in the 13-15 age group who smoke say that they can buy cigarettes without verifying their age.
Today, we are also faced with new products such as electronic cigarettes and puffs.
These are offered to our youth under different names and in different packaging.
It is said to be less harmful.
However, we know that these products also carry serious health risks.
We should not see any of them as an innocent habit.
We want to protect our children from this danger.
For this reason, I would like to emphasize once again the importance of the electronic age verification system in tobacco sales.
As a matter of fact, we see that 90 percent of our citizens who participated in Green Crescent's research support this system.
We also know this; 80 percent of our citizens who smoke want to get rid of this disease.
We want to support every citizen who wants to quit smoking.
Tobacco reduces your quality of life.
It causes shortness of breath; It increases your chances of getting many life-threatening diseases, especially cancer and heart attack.
Sometimes they say 'nothing will happen to me'.
Sometimes it is postponed by saying 'I will leave this one day'.
I say it clearly here; After all, there is no profit after all.
Today, we provide service with 1,910 Smoking Cessation Clinics all over our country.
We offer online polyclinic service via MHRS.
We provide drugs used in smoking cessation treatment to our citizens, free of charge, as deemed appropriate by our physicians.
We stand by every citizen who wants to get rid of this addiction, whether they have social security or not.
We are one of the rare countries in the world that offers smoking cessation services completely free of charge.
Our ALO 171 Smoking Cessation Advisory Line, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, also offers guidance and follow-up support to our citizens.
The fight against tobacco is not just a fight of the state or the Ministry of Health.
This is the responsibility of all of us as a society.
We must act collectively with our families, educators, non-governmental organizations and tradesmen.
Because protecting our children is a requirement of the common conscience of this society.
150.5 billion branded cigarettes were sold in Turkey in 2024.
This figure clearly reveals why the struggle must be carried out more determinedly and together.
I call out once again to our citizens who smoke among us: Come, make a promise to yourself today.
'I won't smoke anymore.
Say, 'I made a promise to both myself and our Minister of Health.'
"We will support you in this decision until the end," he said.
'WE ARE THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH, NOT THE DISEASE'
Minister Memişoğlu said, "For us, health does not mean waiting for our people to come to the hospital after they get sick.
It means being with our citizens before they get sick.
We are the Ministry of Health, not the disease.
Our family physicians are a part of our family and the closest physicians to our citizens.
We would like you to consult our family physicians first, as they are the physicians who know you best.
Today, our family physicians personally call and follow up our diabetes and blood pressure patients, as well as our citizens with COPD and heart disease.
They can make direct appointments to all specialist physicians in hospitals on behalf of their patients.
It is possible to share instant information with specialist physicians via our digital infrastructure.
Our family physicians can carry out many processes, from prescribing medications started by specialist physicians to home health service reports and renewing existing reports.
It can prescribe 1,859 new drugs that we have authorized, ranging from blood pressure to diabetes and skin diseases.
We want to move our strong health infrastructure further with science and production.
We bring together the knowledge of our physicians, the labor of our engineers and the production power of our industrialists towards common goals.
"We are working to develop our own medicine, vaccine and medical device," he said.
