Mevlit Yurtseven, President of the Alliance of International Doctors, spoke to Anadolu Agency.
‘’We are taking a great step to heal the wounds of the earthquake. Examination, taking impression, physical therapy, prosthetic center, virtual rehabilitation area, medical product repair and more. The center that we will establish in Kahramanmaras will be amazing. We are here, we are with our fellows.‘’
The members of the Alliance of International Doctors (AID) and Physically Disabled started work to be a salve for the wounds of the earthquake victims who have lost of limbs after the disasters of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 centered in Pazarcık and Elbistan.
As such, with the support of Kahramanmaras Sutçu Imam University (KSU) and Istanbul Medeniyet University (IMU) special prosthesis will be produced for amputee victims in the earthquake zone at the center, which was started to be established on the KSU Education Campus.
In his statement to Anadolu Agency, Yurtseven mentioned that many citizens lost their limbs because of earthquakes and stated that they will continue their work in the region.
Yurtseven said, ‘’Being an earthquake victim is enough to receive this service. Also, this is not a service which will end immediately when once it starts. It has to have continuity. Children are growing. Prostheses need to be replaced. People's prosthetic sockets eventually break and need to be replaced. They need to be cared under the current conditions. We will provide all these services here."
Earthquake victims will have free benefit from the center where volunteer doctors will provide services in the fields of examination, taking impression, physical therapy, rehabilitation, social and psychological education and where some medical products will be repaired there.
Volunteer doctors who are trying to heal the wounds of the earthquake, will help the earthquake victims who have loss of limbs and try to hold on to life again in the center, where some of which are expected to join the service at the end of July.
Yasar Tatar, the President of the Board of the Physically Disabled Foundation, told Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter that there was a huge earthquake disaster on February 6, and that many citizens lost their limbs due to earthquakes.
Tatar claimed that many medical centers in the regions were destroyed and damaged in the earthquakes and explained that they established a highly special center in Kahramanmaras and that important systems would take place in it.
Tatar stated that volunteer doctors will provide free service in the center, which has already begun to establish on the KSU Campus, and that there will be a prosthetic center, virtual rehabilitation area, prosthetic museum, sports skills coordination area, a special bath area for the disabled, a library and various social facilities.
Tatar noted that they will prepare both the disabled and their families for life in the center that will be established and emphasized that they will offer various trainings to families here.
‘’We are here on behalf of the government, we are here for government.’’
Stating that they chose Kahramanmaras as a reference city in the earthquake zone, Tatar said:
‘’This place will provide service to all the regions. We especially chose here as reference city. Because Kahramanmaras is in the middle of cities. In the regions of Kahramanmaras, particularly in Elbistan, there are significant losses and amputations. There is no similar center in Malatya. Therefore, citizens in Adıyaman, Malatya will receive service from here. We will have a prosthetic center in Hatay as well. Currently provide service. But especially the cities close to this region will receive service from here. Likewise, there are prosthetic centers in Gaziantep, but those who have problem accessing this service will also receive service from here.
Being an earthquake victim is enough to receive this service. I say as much as we can. Because it’s a huge number. We are here on behalf of the government until the government’s own systems on this subject are developed, but we are unsure of how much of this we can provide numerically. We are here for the government. We are here for the people. As the Physically Disabled Foundation and the Alliance International Doctors Foundation, we will continue this service. Nothing costs anything. There won't be any fees. In other words, the center that will be built here will be accessible to all amputees in the 11 earthquake-affected cities. They will receive free prosthesis rehabilitation here. Both pre-prosthetic therapy and prosthetic use instruction will be provided. We won’t charge them any price for this."
Tatar thanked Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality, which did the steel construction work of the center, and those who contributed to the project.
