President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan noted the following: “We made history in the field of health with the self-devotion of our healthcare army, new hospitals which we constantly put into service and increase the capacity, and our robust infrastructure.”
President Erdoğan shared on his social media account the actions taken in the field of health in the past one year as of the detection of the first novel coronavirus (COVID-19) case in Türkiye.
In the post in which he says, “We made history in the field of health with the self-devotion of our healthcare army, new hospitals which we constantly put into service and increase the capacity, and our robust infrastructure”, President Erdoğan conveyed the actions taken in the fields of services, vaccine, city hospitals, healthcare facilities and domestic ventilators.
Recalling that under the title of “Services”, Coronavirus Operation Centre was put into service and Scientific Advisory Board was established, President Erdoğan stated that 2019-nCOv Disease Guideline, which is among the first examples across the world, was published, domestic diagnostic kits were developed, Contact Tracing and Isolation Tracking System was established, Life Fits into Home Application was introduced, and inactive vaccines started to be administered under the same title.
Stating under the “vaccine” title that 18 on-going different vaccine trials made Türkiye one of the important countries in this field throughout the world, President Erdoğan said, “We administered over 10 million vaccines within a short period of time.”
Recalling that under the “city hospitals” title, İstanbul Başakşehir, Konya and Tekirdağ city hospitals were opened, President Erdoğan indicated that under the “Healthcare Facilities” title, 25 new hospital buildings, as well as 11 additional hospital buildings, were brought into service.
President Erdoğan noted that the number of healthcare facilities increased by 55 per cent, and the bed capacity of the intensive care unit of public hospitals increased by 51 per cent in one-year period.
Reminding that under the “Domestic Ventilator” title, mass production of domestic ventilators started within a short period of time, President Erdoğan pointed out that they were exported to 20 countries besides being used within the country.
Indicating that 3 million 936 thousand and 826 follow-ups were conducted for 803 thousand people arriving from abroad, President Erdoğan stressed that 82 million 781 thousand and 903 follow-ups were done to 21 million 315 thousand and 454 citizens who had the disease or the contact.
President Erdoğan stated that health screening was made to 19 million 216 thousand and 934 people at the border gates.
President Erdoğan also shared the actions taken in the field of economy during the COVID-19 pandemic on his social media account. According to President Erdoğan’s post, Treasury-backed interest loans amounting to TL 5.6 billion belonging to 828 thousand artisans were postponed in that period. Withholding tax on the office rent was reduced from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.
The annual announcement, advertisement, environmental cleaning taxes were not collected from non-operating businesses for the period they were not operative. The financial needs of 345 thousand businesses, as well as 7 million citizens, were met through the guarantee of the Treasury.
The opportunity to take advantage of support packages worth 30 billion TL was made available through Türk Eximbank. Credit Guarantee Fund limit was increased from 25 billion TL to 50 billion TL, enabling enterprises and citizens with a shortage of guaranty to access financing. Basic Products Loan Packages worth 44.3 billion TL were offered.
During the pandemic, Economic Stabilisation Shield Package, Micro-Enterprise Support Package, Tourism Support Package, Finance Support Package, Eximbank Restocking Support Package, Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) Breath Credit Support Package, Basic Products Credit Support Packages and Credit Support Package of Development and Investment Bank of Türkiye were also announced.
Tax reductions become a remedy for the needs of citizens
During the process, tax reductions also became a remedy for the needs of citizens. In this context, the VAT rate in the import and delivery of Covid-19 vaccines has been reduced to 1 per cent until the end of 2021.
The VAT rate in education and training services was reduced from 8 per cent to 1 per cent. The VAT rate was decreased from 18 per cent to 8 per cent for tradesmen services subject to the general rate and from 8 per cent to 1 per cent for food and beverage, cinema, theatre, museum and accommodation services.
In another post concerning the issue, President Erdoğan stated that during the Covid-19 pandemic, 760 thousand 71 tradesmen and artisans were provided with 18.8 billion TL of credit within the scope of the Economic Stability Shield measures.
According to the post titled “We did not leave our tradesmen and exporters alone during the pandemic”, the Contact-Free Trade application was implemented at the customs of Iraq, Bulgaria and Iran during the pandemic, and the sustainability of trade was ensured in an effective, controlled and safe way. Marketing activities of exporters in the digital atmosphere were supported, and contribution was made in order to enable the firms to hold approximately 9,500 business meetings with more than 2,500 foreign companies.
Membership expenses to e-commerce sites were supported by 80 per cent in 2020, 60 per cent in 2021, up to 8,000 TL per website. 135 thousand SMEs benefited from the solidarity campaign “We stand by SMEs as E-Commerce”. With the campaign, 7,076 people were employed, 3,761 SMEs were introduced to e-commerce, 1.2 billion TL were transferred to the SMEs before the maturity date.
Rental support for tradesmen for 3 months
In order to protect the domestic producers, an additional customs duty began to be applied to 5 thousand 220 product groups. Approximately 1 million tradesmen were provided with a monthly income loss support of 1,000 TL for three months. Rental support for three months was initiated for tradesmen who had a rented workplace.
Turnover Loss Support was implemented for the enterprises affected by the pandemic restrictions. 984 thousand 937 tradesmen and artisans were given the opportunity to use Treasury-backed interest loans worth a total of 42.6 billion TL. 760 thousand 71 tradesmen and artisans were provided with loans of 18.8 billion TL within the scope of the “Economic Stability Shield” measures. 650 million TL delayed debt of 30 thousand tradesmen and artisans to credit and guarantee cooperatives was restructured.
Effective audits were carried out against overcharge increases and stocking practices of manufacturers, suppliers and retail companies, as a result of which a total administrative fine of 31.6 million TL was imposed.