Turkish doctors set to establish live donor transplant unit at Israeli hospital

Deniz Çiyan - JERUSALEM

A group of Turkish doctors is set to establish a live donor transplant unit at a well-known Israeli hospital in Jerusalem, according to an Israeli doctor. 

Dr. Abed Khalaileh, general surgeon for organ transplant at Israel’s Haddasah Hospital, told the Hürriyet Daily News that a group of Turkish doctors from Turkey to be headed by Professor Dr. Yaman Tokat was set to establish a live donor organ transplant unit at the Haddasah Hospital. 

“A group of doctors from Istanbul to be led by Dr. Tokat will come to the Haddasah Hospital to establish the living transplantation unit,” Khalaileh said March 8 at the Haddasah Hospital.
 
The exact time of the visit by the Turkish medical team has yet to be determined but will be announced “as soon as a program is put forth,” Khalaileh said, noting that the process of forming a program was continuing. 

Turkey is one of the leading countries in live liver transplantation operations, Khalaileh said, adding that this was mainly because few people donate their organs after their deaths, meaning Turkish doctors have developed methods of conducting live organ transplant operations. 

Operating with the aim of providing healthcare to everyone, irrespective of their background, culture, race or class, the Haddasah Hospital is mainly funded by the Haddasah Women’s Zionist Organization, which was founded in the United States in the early 20th century, but is also partnered by the Israeli government, Professor Peter Vernon van Heerden, head of Critical Care Medicine Unit, said. 

The funding provides an opportunity to obtain the newest medical equipment and technology to conduct the newest operations, van Heerden said. 

Dr. İlker Tahiroğlu, a resident doctor from Turkey who has been receiving practical training at Haddasah Hospital’s Cardiology Department for the past 2.5 years and will stay there approximately another two years more, said that he had not faced any discrimination either at the hospital or in the country, adding that there was no difference in locals’ attitude toward him before or since the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel.  

“My biggest aim is to receive good training here and return to my country to serve my people,” said Tahiroğlu, adding that he had found an opportunity in which he could work with very good doctors and the latest technology.