Istanbul hospital to open on April 20: Erdogan

ANKARA

Turkey's president on Thursday announced that the first phase of a hospital complex in Istanbul will start operating on April 20.

"We are opening the first phase of Ikitelli City Hospital, which has 2,682 beds, on April 20," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter.

"We will complete our other hospitals quickly and put them into the service of our nation."

The statement comes at a time when Turkey, like other countries, is battling coronavirus, the infection that has killed over 50,000 people in 180 countries.

Turkey, according to its health minister, has so far reported 18,135 positive cases with 356 deaths.

Healthcare in Turkey is considered to be advanced and extremely affordable in comparison to Europe and the U.S.

*Writing by Burak Dag