TEKİRDAĞ Namık Kemal University (NKÜ) Research and Application Hospital Chief Physician Assoc. Dr. İlker Yıldırım said that they will lay the foundation of the Oncology Hematology and Palliative Care Center with a capacity of 95 beds next year.
NKU Research and Application Hospital Chief Physician Assoc. Dr. İlker Yıldırım made a statement about the new hospital and new projects at the press conference he held with the hospital management. Stating that they are aiming for health tourism, Yıldırım said, “Especially our compatriots living in the Balkans often come to our country for their health problems. We signed protocols with various tourism agencies regarding them, and we provide services to the patients living there, their health problems and surgeries, and to some extent, to our compatriots living in the Balkans.” “We want to activate health tourism in order to make our support felt. Our negotiations with tourism agencies are ending this year. They will start finding us patients from the region, especially those who need coronary bypass, knee prosthesis, dialysis and nephrology,” he said.
‘500 THOUSAND REQUESTS ARE COMING FOR 51 THOUSAND EXAMINATIONS’
Stating that they carry out 610 thousand regular outpatient clinics a year, Yıldırım said, “We carry out 102 thousand private faculty member examinations, reaching a total of 712 thousand examinations. At the same time, with our 12 operating rooms, 8 dialysis centers, 6-bed sleep laboratory and emergency department, we treat an average of 3 thousand patients a day and 22 patients a year.” We provide inpatient services to 1,000 patients. We also perform around 60 thousand medical operations and surgical interventions annually. As you can see, our main problem is perhaps not our problem, but the supply and demand imbalance. On average, there are between 450 thousand and 500 thousand applications for our appointment channels. That is, there is a demand of approximately 10 times. We can only meet one-tenth of this demand. However, we think that other health institutions in our country are probably in the same situation. Since we are a large hospital, of course our patients are not only from Tekirdağ. As you know, it is a city right next to Istanbul and transportation is quite easy. That’s why many of our patients come from Istanbul and some come to their summer houses. There are many people coming from Edirne and Kırklareli, especially Kırklareli, because they have health problems that cannot be solved there. “Many of our patients come from Çanakkale, Gallipoli and Keşan regions,” he said.
‘EFFICIENCY HAS BEEN ACHIEVED WITH THE APPROVED APPOINTMENT SYSTEM’
İlker Yıldırım stated that they have implemented an approved health system like the one in the Ministry of Health and said, “With this approved health system, when the patient did not come, his appointment was missing, but that day, 2 missing patients were being taken care of in the polyclinic. We now call the patient up to 1 day before the appointment and make the appointment. We want him to confirm that he will come to his appointment. If he does not come, it is not canceled, but if he does not come, a new patient is replaced. When we examine the figures here, we experienced an efficiency of up to 20 percent in appointments. In the past, 1 in 5 appointments was missed, now there is at least 1 other patient. “In this way, our efficiency is increased,” he said.
‘IT WILL BE AN EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT AND MODERN BUILDING’
Stating that they will establish an Oncology and Hematology Hospital, Yıldırım said, “This was one of our most important good news. We have a new hospital to be opened, a new project to be built. The increase in hematology and oncology patients is now so high that the current capacities cannot be kept up. Regarding this, our rectorate has taken With a decision, we will start the construction of the Oncology Hematology and Palliative Care Center. Hopefully, the foundation will be laid in the first quarter of 2025. This hospital will be opened as a 95-bed hospital, and we aim to reach a slightly higher number of beds later on, and it will be an earthquake-resistant and modern building. It will support both Tekirdağ and the Marmara Region in oncology and hematology. It will also include various imaging centers, including PET CT and SPEC CT units, which are difficult to come by in our city, especially with busy appointments, and chemotherapy. “With the inclusion of the unit in the building, our opportunities will increase even more,” he said.
