Kastamonu Deputy Governor Hakan Kubalı stated that while organ donation is around 40-50 percent in Europe, this rate has dropped to 4-5 percent in Turkey, and said that the reason for this is the lack of awareness raising.
Kastamonu University and Kastamonu Provincial Health Directorate organized a conference within the framework of Organ Donation Week activities. Speaking at the opening of the symposium on “Organ and Tissue Donation” held at Kastamonu University Central Library Sezai Karakoç Conference Hall, Kastamonu Provincial Directorate of Health Directorate Head of Health Services Dr. Özgür Yılmaz said, “Our aim is to explain the problems of thousands of dialysis patients waiting for organs, kidney failure patients, patients waiting for liver transplantation in Turkey and in the world. Here, this symposium is a lesson for our type faculty students and nursing students, but to explain the social and religious part of this work, which is not written in the textbooks, which is not taught to you at the moment.”
“Health centers and hospitals were opened to the remotest corners of Anatolia”
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's biggest revolution was in the field of health, Deputy Governor Hakan Kubalı said, “On April 23, 1921, the Turkish Grand National Assembly was opened. Anatolia was under occupation and under these conditions, May 23, 1920, 12 days passed and the Ministry of Health was established. The first thing Atatürk did was to establish the Ministry of Health. Later, health centers were opened all over the country and the Faculty of Medicine of Istanbul University was established. Health laws were enacted. Turkey made a great revolution in the field of health. Maybe it is not given much space among the revolutions Atatürk made, but one of the biggest revolutions he made is the revolution he made in the field of health in Turkey. Today you can see that there are tuberculosis dispensaries everywhere in provinces and districts. There are institutions and research units established to fight cancer. Atatürk paved the way for all these. In the 1960s, the law on the socialization of health services was enacted. With this law, health centers and hospitals were opened in the remotest corners of Anatolia. Health services started to be provided free of charge and equally to all our citizens.”
Stating that they attach great importance to health services, Deputy Governor Kubalı said, “Health is mentioned as the right to life in the Constitution. It is included in all our constitutions that this right should be delivered to Turkish citizens. You are the youth of today and the health personnel of tomorrow. You will help our citizens by providing them with the most basic right to life. I wish you to work with this awareness. Mr. Governor and Provincial Health Director Çağdaş Derdiyok and his valuable managers are doing very good work in the health sector in our province. We have worked on the units for kidney patients opened in the provinces, the improvement of all district hospitals, and the improvement of the technological facilities of our Hospital in the provincial center. We are working in the best way with the staffing service to provide health services to our citizens in the best way possible.”
“Organ donation, which is 50 percent in Europe, is 4 percent in Turkey, this is not an acceptable rate”
Making statements about organ transplants, Kubalı said:
“The first organ transplantation in the world was carried out in 1902, especially during World War I and World War II. Soldiers in World War II donated their organs to the healthy ones instead of the soldiers who lost their organs in the face of injuries. The first heart transplant was performed in the world in 1952. In Turkey, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Haberal performed the first kidney transplant in 1975. We have about 50 years of experience. Currently, we have very specialized health personnel performing organ transplants in Turkey. In the European Union, organ transplantation reaches 50-60 percent of citizens. Unfortunately, this rate is very low in Turkey. It is around 4-5 percent. This is not an acceptable rate. However, the Turkish nation is a great nation that has written its name in the history of the world with its humanitarianism. We should set an example by donating our organs. As many of our citizens know, organ transplantation is not something that harms the health of the transplant recipients. Organ transplantation is a process that takes place with the witness and doctor's report given by brain dead patients. Studies on organ transplantation are a requirement of medical ethics and theory. It is a requirement of the right to life. We are all connected to each other. As a nation, we are not sufficiently aware of this issue. These awareness raising will be instilled through these studies. You are all leaders in the field of health. You are leaders who will tell the truth especially about organ transplantation.”
“There are too many patients waiting for organ transplantation in our country”
Kastamonu University Faculty of Medicine Anesthesiology and Reanimation Specialist Organ and Tissue Transplant Provincial Coordinator Prof. Dr. Zahide Doğanay said, “Unfortunately, we are far behind in organ donation. The number of patients waiting for organ transplantation in our country is very high. 3 people die every day and 2,500 people die every year due to insufficient organ donation. In 2023, according to the data of the Ministry of Health, the number of patients waiting for kidney transplantation is 24 thousand 449. The number of patients waiting for a liver transplant is 2,600, the number of patients waiting for a heart transplant is 1,422, the number of patients waiting for a lung transplant is 204 and the number of patients waiting for a pancreas transplant is 277. Unfortunately, these numbers are increasing day by day.”
An organ and tissue donation stand was set up by Kastamonu Provincial Health Directorate. At the stand, the guests who came to the conference were informed about organ and tissue donation and the information of those who wanted to donate was taken.
İHA Haber Kodu: 20241108AW325255