HASAN Pala a 65-year-old member of the Turkish speaking community was flown to Turkey by air ambulance for a heart operation in May during the coronavirus pandemic
Living in England and heart disease Hasan Pala explained that the successful operation has saved his life “I would have died if I stayed in England any anymore…”
Pala, who has been living in London for 35 years with his family, needed urgent heart surgery. Caught in the midst of coronavirus pandemic while going to and from the hospital, Pala asked the doctors in England when he was going to have an operation, and he received the answer it’s “not clear”.
Upon this, Pala, contacted to the Turkish consulate in London, explaining his situation. The consulate immediately contacted Turkey’s Ministry of Health. An air ambulance was sent from Turkey, taking Pala, it took to Trabzon from London. After completing quarantine, Pala’s heart surgery took place and he has been recovering in Trabzon Ahi Evren Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital.
Stating that his health is in good condition and thanking the doctors and government, Hasan Pala said, “…If I stayed a any longer in England, I would die. Because of the coronavirus, doctors did not perform my surgery and made me wait. The government with the ambulance brought me to Trabzon from the UK. I got my health here, our state is very big. ”
Surgery Specialist Assoc. Dr Sefer Usta, from the hospital, said: “When our patient came to us, there were defects in all 3 heart valves. His general condition was going to deteriorate. He had difficulty breathing. The successful surgery took 3 and half hours, we changed with the biological aortic valve cover. We repaired the other damaged (valve) covers and restored them to their health. ”
The head of the Trabzon Health Services op.d Yavuz Blackwell, said: “… We performed a coronavirus test to our patient in the hospital and the test result was negative. Although the test result was negative, we placed it in the dormitory to remain in quarantine for a while. Then, we took our patient from the quarantine dormitory with an ambulance and brought them to Ahi Evren Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital. We started treatment for our patient with heart disease after the examinations performed here. After the treatment, our patient recovered with successful surgery. ”