Turkey sent 84 tons of medical equipment to Britain Wednesday to help the country in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The death toll in the U.K has been increasing relentlessly, the health care system is overburdened and many people in care homes have been left to their own devices.

The British health minister is under heavy criticism in London and the delivery from Ankara was being viewed as a savior.

Unfortunately, Britain is not the only country with insufficient health infrastructure to deal with the pandemic.

Italy and Spain are also in trouble and the U.S. seems to be falling apart. Even in Sweden – which is considered to be one of the richest social states – the elderly in care homes are dying in huge numbers.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that many first world countries have not invested enough in their health care systems and were not ready to face a global health crisis. Germany seems to be the only European country that has maintained a well-functioning system amid the pandemic.

Turkey, on the other hand, has surprised the world with its well-equipped hospitals, enough materials and successful doctors. It is obvious that the government has invested a lot in health infrastructure over the years and Turkey has surpassed many European countries in terms of medical standards and capacity.

The coronavirus pandemic has not only shown the importance of a strong social structure but it also revealed that our lives will have to change in order to be better prepared for future threats.

Let’s begin with the hospitals. It is clear that future hospitals should be more flexible for pandemics and be convertible depending on the need. They should be able to quickly increase in capacity in case of rapid growth in the number of patients and have enough convertible spaces for isolation.

We should face the fact that COVID-19 might be followed by other pandemics as contagious as this one, so we need to adapt to the new rules. We should work toward enhancing our adaptation capabilities.

It does not mean that we will live in isolation forever but this crisis shows that our lives should be flexible. We never imagined that our lives could change like this and so had become obsessed with our daily routines. We were detached from home, spending most of the time outside, and we were too dependent on others.

Coronavirus has made us realize that life can change in a snap and we should be ready to switch to a more indoorsy life at any time. To facilitate this change, maybe homes should be equipped differently.

We need more space for storage in homes, so a cellar or a dark room to keep dry food might be a part of our homes again as in the past.

The crisis showed us that refrigerators should also be designed according to new needs. We saw that a standard refrigerator is not big enough to preserve food for a longer period of time. So, maybe the sizes should be bigger.

All in all, we are living through a time in which we should reconsider all our choices and try to make a better and safer life after the coronavirus blows over.