Qatari doctors treat Türkiye quake victims 'like a family'

By Burak Dag

HATAY, Türkiye (AA) - Qatari doctors volunteering in the quake-hit Turkish province of Hatay say they are treating victims of last month's major tremors "like a family."

"Every patient we treat is as if a member of our family," Muhammad Hamis, an orthopedic specialist from the Qatar Armed Forces Medical Services working in a field hospital in the southernmost Hatay province, told Anadolu.

Qatar dispatched health care professionals of different specialties to the field hospital it set up in the province's Payas district.

The 42-member medical team has been working since Feb. 18, a week after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes.

Hatay is one of the 11 southern Turkish provinces hit in the tremors, along with Kahramanmaras, Adana, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig, in which more than 45,000 people have died. Tremblors were also felt in neighboring Syria.

Dr. Hamis, the member of the Qatari medical team that rushed to help Türkiye, said they have treated around 5,500 quake victims so far.

Hamis said the Qatari nation stands by "brotherly Türkiye" in this hour of need, as it has always been.

The Qatar Red Crescent has allocated $1 million from its Disaster Response Fund for urgent relief to those affected by the quakes.

Qatar’s ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was the first foreign leader to visit Türkiye after the seismic catastrophe.