The Turkish Government has decided to keep the hundreds of respirators for ‘treatment of their own patients.’
Ankara has imposed restrictions on the export of medical devices, in order to ‘supply its own health system against the pandemic.’
The issue is that the requisitioned cargo had been manufactured in Turkey on behalf of a Spanish company that had bought components from China. The equipment was paid for by the Ministry of Health and also by the autonomous governments of Castilla-La Mancha and Navarra.
The respirators were shipped from China but were held at Turkish customs since last Saturday, with the Turkish Government now deciding to keep them.