Turkey sends Somalia domestic ventilators to tackle virus

By Berk Ozkan and Orhan Onur Gemici

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey on Saturday sent a shipment of medical supplies, including new Turkish-made ventilators, to Somalia to help the Horn of Africa country combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The ventilators, made through recent technological advances, will be “breath of life for our Somali brothers,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter.

Sending the aid is not a matter of civilization but of conscience, he added, stressing how the capability and conscience of the Turkish nation stands with the oppressed and the needy.

After Turkey’s all-out effort to develop its own ventilators, which bore fruit last month, Somalia – which lacked the devices, critical for fighting coronavirus – is the first foreign country it sent the ventilators to.

At the president’s order, aid prepared by the National Defense Ministry, Health Ministry, and Industry and Technology Ministry were loaded on aircraft Friday night at Etimesgut Military Airport in Ankara, the capital.

The aid includes a large amount of preventive healthcare equipment such as 5,000 intensive care ventilators co-manufactured by Turkish firms Biyosys, Baykar, Aselsan, and Arcelik, among with diagnostic kits, overalls, and masks.

Marking the aid shipment, Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said that tough times have taught the Turkish nation to be confident and inspired it.

Varank stressed that they are witnessing the success of the technological advances started under the leadership of President Erdogan.

The medical aid packages bore the Turkish presidential seal along with the Turkish and Somali flags and a famous saying by 13th-century poet and mystic Mevlana Rumi: "There is hope after despair and many suns after darkness."

* Writing by Dilara Hamit in Ankara