Turkish health workers bullish at virus ‘ground zero’

ISTANBUL AFP April29, 2020 – Voices reverberate around the room in Turkey’s busiest medical emergency hotline in Istanbul, where there has been a surge in calls during the coronavirus crisis.  Â

Wearing masks and sitting in front of screens where they have a list of questions, the centre’s employees are some of those who have witnessed first hand the size of the pandemic, which has killed nearly 3,000 people in Turkey.  Â
The majority of Turkey’s cases have been recorded in Istanbul, a city of 15 million.   “We are ground zero for COVID-19,” said Fatih Turkmen, the ambulance service chief of the centre, handling calls on the European side of the city straddling two continents.Â

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Turkmen said the centre received between 30,000 and 35,000 calls a day, reaching almost 40,000 at points during the pandemic, although some requests are not related to coronavirus.

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The average number of calls to the centre before the crisis was around 20,000 a day, he told AFP.  Â

If there is a suspected case of coronavirus or an illness that might require an ambulance, the call handlers can ask a doctor nearby to help with further questions.  Â

When ambulances are needed, they are swiftly dispatched, often with sirens blaring on the unusually quiet streets of a once-bustling city.  Â