Prof. Cem'i DEMİROĞLU
Founder of Turkish Cardiology Foundation

New Horizons in Turkish Medical Science

I remember the 70s, as the times when our citizens were seeking treatment for heart diseases abroad. Those years were the times when I, together with my close associates, was asking “is there a reason why the solution cannot be offered in Turkey” and looking for a way. Together with a group of physicians who shared this view and gathered around the same target, we established Haseki Cardiology Institute in 1974 under the body of Cerrahpasa School of Medicine. I honorably served as the chairman of the Institute in Istanbul University, which rendered many important services in our country for many years, until my retirement.

In 1989, we established Florence Nightingale Hospital under the body of Turkish Cardiology Foundation. In the beginning, only 250 open heart surgeries were being performed at the hospital annually, which started its operations as a small, 50-bed and pretentious health care center. With constantly increasing trust and support of our people and the successful studies made, Florence Nightingale has currently become a large medical center at international standards and dimensions with a capacity of 300 beds, where over 2500 open heart surgeries are successfully performed in a year.

Our second hospital Avrupa Florence Nightingale, rendering services in all specialties including infantile diseases, oral and maxillofacial surgery, gynecology and ophthalmology, is one of the most important health care centers of Turkey, which is also appreciated by foreign specialists.

Today, we are deeply proud that our people prefer domestic institutions for treatment instead of seeking treatment abroad, and trust in our own physicians and medical centers.

Successful results having been achieved for many years encouraged us to carry our targets toward new horizons in the last 5 years. We established Kadir Has University in 1998 as a result of the cooperation between Kadir Has Foundation and Turkish Cardiology Foundation. The School of Medicine, Nursing College and Health Care Master’s degree departments operating under the body of this university are among the crucial establishments for our foundation.

We have opened Gayrettepe Florence Nightingale Hospital and Cancer Center, with the participation and joint investments of American specialists. Today, we are able to carry out joint studies with the most important medical institutions of America and may realize joint consultations and conferences by connecting with these centers through Telemedicine satellite communication systems. We also cooperate and realize technology transfer with many other countries.

Florence Nightingale Group has become one of the pioneering and meritorious institutions of Turkey, which reflects the success of Turkish physicians in international arena.

Today, extending the reach of our health care and treatment services at global standards to the entire country, bringing new dimensions to the Turkish health care sector and opening new prospects for Turkish medical system are among our primary targets.

The largest share in this success belongs to Turkish people, who have always been on our side with their support and trust, encouraged us to work and awarded us. We believe that this support will continue ever more in our future studies and would like to share the pleasure of this success with our public as a whole.

Prof. Cem'i DEMİROĞLU
Founder of Turkish Cardiology Foundation