Friends of the TRNC Emergency Services

Afternoon Tea Talk – Dr Özgűr Tűrk

By Margaret Sheard

There was a huge gathering of 72 people at the Afternoon Tea Talk on Wednesday 8th May to hear the talk being given by Dr Özgűr Tűrk about the new healthcare service which he and Dr Eliz Mazhar have set up in Girne.

The dining room was buzzing with conversation while the guests were tucking into the excellent sandwiches and cakes prepared by the Mountain View Hotel and the waiters were scurrying around with their tea and coffee pots. While everyone was eating, Mike Plant brought the audience up to date with the forthcoming events and Jenny was busy with the raffle tickets for the draw to be made later.

Dr Tűrk was there with Dr Eliz Mazhar and two other members of the team and at the appointed time he was introduced to the audience and he then proceeded with his talk.

Firstly, Dr Tűrk gave some information of his background. He was born in Turkey in 1976 and after graduating from High School he attended medical school in Ankara where he graduated in 2001. He came to North Cyprus in 2010 where he married and decided to stay.

It was realised that there is a need for a healthcare service for expatriates in North Cyprus and the VIPMed surgery was opened around a month ago and will be operated on similar lines to a British health centre, there are already 300 people registered. Registration needs to be made giving as much medical history as possible and this is free.

The Surgery is situated at the rear of Elektrokur near the Hirondelle Roundabout in Girne. Normal surgery hours are 9am to 6pm but there are staff on duty 24 hours 7 days a week. There is currently one ambulance and the surgery are hoping to obtain a further ambulance in the next few weeks. The staff consists of doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers, secretaries and generally the English language is used, which is so important for English speaking residents who have possibly already encountered a language difficulty when seeking medical attention.

In the case of an emergency, the ambulance will arrive with a doctor and nurse and the driver so that they can try and treat the patient immediately but if hospitalisation is required the ambulance will then take the patient to the hospital of their choice or to a hospital recommended by the doctor. The Surgery are aiming to have an ambulance at the patients house in 15 minutes. In the event of hospitalisation, Dr Tűrk said that patients are not left alone, his staff will visit and follow up their treatment while they are in hospital and when they are fit to leave they will be taken back to their home.

Consultation at the Surgery will be 70TL. Home visits will be 150TL during the day and 200TL for evening/night and Sundays. Small operations and surgery can be done at the Surgery and treatment can also be arranged in the South and in Turkey if required. All test results can be supplied in English.

There were a lot of questions from the audience following the talk. I could see many people nodding and smiling so I would think the new healthcare service is something the expatriate community would welcome. We have written many times about British expatriates returning to the UK because they worry about health problems as they are getting older and maybe this is the type of improvement in healthcare which could put minds at rest for the future.

There then followed the raffle with some very nice prizes and Mike’s goodie bag of salt and pepper pots which are now becoming a very popular feature of the tea talk events. I already have 2 but my collection was not added to this time, although my sister who accompanied us was a “lucky” winner.

The result for the event was 770TL which was an excellent amount for this very worthy charity.

We have received news of an alteration for the next Tea Talk to be held in June, unfortunately the talk by Dorothy Betts has had to be postponed and will now be given at the July event. The speaker for the June Tea Talk will now be Edward Barrett talking about Mayors he has met. Look out for information about these two events in our Weekly Events Calendar.