Turkey raises $637 million in external financing for $1.1 bln hospitals

Some $637 million of the $1.1 billion external funding needed to develop two large city hospitals in İzmir in Turkey's west and Kocaeli in the northwest has been secured, President Recep Erdoğan said at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Ankara on Oct. 20. 

"I thank GE, the company, for keeping its promise [on this funding]," Erdoğan said, adding that the hospital in Kocaeli will serve 1,180 people over six facilities. 

The hospital in İzmir will also be made up of six separate buildings and both projects will be finished by 2019, he added. 

"City hospitals have been a dream for mine for the past 14 years," Erdoğan said, adding that tenders have been held or contracts signed for 21 such city hospitals.

The total capacity of these hospitals will be 30,000, rising to 41,000 when eight further planned hospitals are opened. The total investment for all facilities will amount to $30 billion.