Construction and equipment of a public hospital in Dörtyol

Located in northern Syria, near conflict zones, Turkey is one of the countries most affected by the influx of migrants since the start of the civil war in 2011. Turkey is, with nearly 4 million refugees on its territory, mostly Syrians, the first host country for refugees in the world .

The government welcomes Syrian refugees on its territory and provides them, using its own resources, with access to basic services and to the labor market. Health infrastructure and services are under pressure and are struggling to meet the needs of refugees and host populations, especially in the provinces bordering Syria.

The Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRiT) was set up in 2016, as an initiative of the European Council, in order to mobilize additional funds to contribute financially for the reception and integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey. AFD participated in the implementation of the first phase of the FRiT through a delegation of EU funds for the construction and equipment of a public hospital in Dörtyol. 

The objective of the project is to facilitate the access of refugees and host populations to secondary level health care in the province of Hatay, which has nearly 450,000 Syrian refugees out of a population of approximately 1.5 million inhabitants. 

The construction of the Dörtyol public hospital will alleviate the current pressure on the infrastructure and health services in the province. The new hospital will eventually replace the existing one whose technical infrastructure and functionality is no longer suitable for current conditions. It will make it possible to increase the number of beds from 150 to 250 beds, to also expand the hospital’s services desired by the provincial health authorities, to introduce new specialties (neonatal resuscitation, palliative care), to improve the working conditions of medical staff and the living conditions of patients (in particular due to a reduction in the number of people per room). 

The main expected effects consist of increased quality of care, better efficiency, and easier access for patients to receive services in Hatay province, thus this will help local citizens more easily accept refugees and prevent the need to compete for access to services.