Dutch doctors in Turkey to treat earthquake wounds

Adıyaman was one of the cities most damaged by the earthquakes centered on Kahramanmaraş. After the earthquake, a team of 24 doctors and nurses from the Netherlands came to Turkey to help the earthquake victims.

The team, which arrived in Adıyaman under the coordination of AFAD, examines citizens at the field hospital set up by UMKE on the Adıyaman University campus.

Dutch-Afghan doctor Shakib Sana said he came to Turkey to help health workers. Saying that her husband is Turkish, Sana said: “We wanted to help. Within a few days, the plane was voluntarily arranged. We came to Adıyaman from the Netherlands. We work here as volunteers. We are doing our humanitarian duty here. It shows the unity of the people. We are here to contribute to the people and institutions of Turkey. Let’s work shoulder to shoulder. The pain is great,” she said.

Sana’s husband, Dr. Sevilay Temel, stated that she works as a specialist doctor in the Netherlands. Stating that they came from the Netherlands as 24 health workers, 7 of whom were doctors, Temel said: “We set up a field hospital and a pharmacy here together with 112, UMKE and AFAD. We work in a well-integrated way with the UMKE doctors”.

Doctor Jaco Suijker said that he saw the earthquake on television and was very impressed by the news. Saying that he came to help people, Suijker said: “I am very happy that the volunteers have come together and have done such a good job together. I am very happy to have contributed to this.”

Nurse Melek Özel, who was part of the team from the Netherlands, stated that she had never worked in the earthquake zone before. UMKE employee İdris Tunç said: “We are working to alleviate the pain. Here, we run the business together with our teammates. We have volunteer doctors and nurses from abroad who support us in the field,” he said. (AA)