A Talk About Raising Awareness on 14 March Medicine Day was Held

Assist. Prof. Dr. Nurten ELKİN celebrated the 14th March Medicine Day of all healthcare professionals and participants in her opening speech. Stating that March 14 is a special, important and meaningful day for all healthcare professionals, she stated that we could not be as enthusiastic and joyful as in previous years on March 14, too. We are sad due to our healthcare professionals who lost their lives during the pandemic process. She stated that a great struggle was waged and she congratulated all the healthcare professionals who worked at the forefront of this struggle with great devotion and sacrifice for their success. After the opening speech, she introduced her first guests Istanbul Gelişim University Faculty of Health Sciences Vice Dean Assist. Prof. Dr.  A. Yüksel BARUT. After that she shared his curriculum vitae with the participants.
“Dr. BARUT was born in Tokat, completed his primary and secondary education in Tokat and his high school education in Sivas. He entered Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine in 1968 and graduated in 1974. He medical specialized in Radiology at Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine. He worked as the Chief Intern of Radiology and Radiology Clinic Chief in Istanbul Education Research Hospital. After 44 years of government service, he retired in September 2012. He started to work as the Founding Director of IGU School of Health Sciences on September 24, 2012 and continued this duty until the Faculty of Health Sciences was established on November 25, 2020. He is still working as an academic member at IGU. "
Dr. BARUT started his speech by 100th anniversary of the acceptance of National Anthem on March 12, condolences the health workers who lost their lives in the global epidemic and emphasizing the Çanakkale Victory on March 18.
On Wednesday, March 14, 1827, with Hekimbaşı Mustafa Behçet’s proposal, II. Mahmut said that Turkey’s first modern medical education start by name Tıphane-i Amire ve Cerrahhane-i Amire in Şehzadebaşı Tulumbacıbaşı Mansion. In addition he stated that today is the start of "Medicine Day".
He emphasized that the resistance against the celebration and occupation that took place in occupied Istanbul on March 14, 1919, gave this a different meaning. On that day, under the leadership of medical school 3rd grade student Hikmet (Boran), medical school students gathered to protest the occupation and the famous doctors also supported them. Thus, the Medicine Day started as the homeland defense movement of the members of the medical profession.
He showed the first medical emblem on March 14, 1827, and talked about the training of military students and the health workers on duty. After Mektebi-i Tıbbiye-i Adliye-i Şahane gave its first graduates in 1843 and after transferring the developments in the following years, the language of medical education, which was French until 1870, was Turkish during the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz. He talked about the history of Medical Faculties in the 1900s, explained the wars during the period and the roles of the Faculty of Medicine students in this process and supported. They came to use Haydarpaşa as headquarters in 1918, after the British began to settle slowly in Istanbul and began to rule Istanbul by restricting the authority of the Sultan. Medical students and patients are allowed to stay on the roof floor of Haydarpaşa. Students are traveling in military uniforms. But the British are uncomfortable with this situation and they want them to wear civilian clothes. Medical students do not accept this situation and start the resistance by participating in the education with their nightgowns. They celebrate the First Medicine Day on March 14, 1919 with certain permissions. And medical students held the resistance organization they prepared beforehand during this celebration. During the Medicine Day celebrations, they hung the Turkish flag between the Haydarpaşa Clock Towers. Medical students who resisted the resistance and occupation made March 14 more meaningful with these behaviors. Dr. BARUT continued his words with the life of Hikmet in Medicine and finished his speech with a poem by Nazım Hikmet.
Moderator Assist. Prof. Dr.  Nurten ELKİN thanked Assist. Prof. Dr.  A. Yüksel BARUT. After that she shared Turkey's first Epidemiologists with doctorate Professor Dr. Sabahat TEZCAN’s curriculum vitae with the participants.
‘’Dr. TEZCAN completed his primary and secondary education in Ankara, she started her education in Hacettepe Faculty of Medicine in 1963 and became a medical doctor in 1969. She continued her education in the Department of Community Medicine at the same institution and received her Community Medicine specialty in 1972. In the same year, she started her education in Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health in the USA and received her master's degree in 1974 and her doctorate in 1977 in this field. She worked in Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Department of Public Health between 1969 and 2012, during this period she became associate professor in 1976 and professor in 1982. She also worked in Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health between 1988-1991.
Dr.TEZCAN, at the Institute of Public Health in 1986 for the first time in Turkey Graduation ask Epidemiology Training program and an in-house department of epidemiology began in 1992 and continued until the subspecialties program until retirement. During this period, most of the approximately 20 students served as their thesis advisor and they also received master's and doctoral degrees and minor specializations.
Dr. TEZCAN was the Director of Public Health Institute between 2000-2002. Between 2002-2012, during his term as the director of Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies, she was carried out 5 national education and research projects, two of which were TDHS.
She wrote the action plan for the next five years with the National Immunization Campaign carried out by the Ministry of Health in 1985. Between 1998-2012, she served as a member of the Ministry's Immunization Advisory Board and various scientific board memberships, as a consultant in WHO, UNICEF and other international organizations.
Dr. TEZCAN has planned, implemented and published many scientific studies at local or national level in almost all subjects of public health. She has numerous national and international publications and textbooks on Epidemiology.’’
Prof. Dr. Sabahat Tezcan, explained that the development of health services in Turkey, the period from 1923 until today. The first period was the period until 1937 and during this period, they established the Ministry of Health as the Ministry of Health and Public Health that time on May 3, 1920. The first minister of Ministry of Health of the TBMM period, Dr. Adnan Adıvar became. In the first years of the Ministry, it had services such as collecting information and bringing articles about health services from Istanbul. Dr. Refik Saydam is important minister of health of the Republic Period. He is the person who has made the greatest contribution to the establishment and development of Health Services in our country. Therefore, it is necessary to know the thoughts and practices of Saydam. Looking at his principles, the basic principle adopted by Dr. Refik Saydam in the provision of health services is to prioritize preventive health services. He has provided the opening of Numune Hospitals in Ankara, Istanbul, Sivas and Erzurum in order to be educational examples for municipalities about hospital management.
Another principle of Dr. Refik Saydam is that he prioritized the fight against diseases such as malaria, trachoma, syphilis and leprosy which were important diseases of that period. The healthcare workforce in Turkey in 1923 is 554 doctors, 136 midwives and 560 health officers. The number of nurses in those years was not even known. These figures showed the insufficiency of the health manpower. To solve this problem, Dr. Saydam opened medical student dormitories and increased the attractiveness of the Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Saydam has accepted the Government Medical units as the basis for the organization of health services. The second period in the development of health services was between 1937 and 1960. In this period, Tuberculosis General Directorates, Social Insurance Units and Mother and Child Health Centers were established. It was also emphasized that in this period, treatment services and preventive services cannot be separated from each other and should be provided as integrated services. The third phase of Health Services is the period of socialization of Health Services between 1961 and 2005. The Law No. 224 on Socialization of Health Services, which was adopted in 1961, is very important. This law is a law that fundamentally changes the principles of health services. It advocates that health is an innate human right, therefore the right to equal service, continuity in service, integrated service, priority service, gradual referral chain and team service. Again with this law, in addition to individual health services, community health and environmental health services are also provided in a planned manner. With the Health Services Transformation program, which is the 4th Period in Health Services, a family medicine system is established and it is ensured that the 1st Level Health Services are provided in Family Health Centers and Community Health Centers. When we look at the main achievements of Public Health, at the beginning of the 20th century, especially with the availability and use of vaccines, serums and antibiotics, infectious diseases were controlled and significant reductions were achieved in maternal and infant mortality rates, which are important health criteria of a country. The place of immunization in all these successes is indisputable. Today, with the national immunization program, our children become immune to 11 disease antigens. Immunization rates are very high and over 95%. However, with this period, as in the "onion skin" theory in Public Health, a group of diseases is reduced in public health and an increase is observed in another group of diseases. This is likened to the layers of an onion. That is why it is explained as the phenomenon of onion peel. When we look and evaluate according to this phenomenon, it has left chronic and degenerative diseases instead of infectious diseases. There is an increase in coronary artery diseases, obesity, diabetes, cancer and many degenerative diseases related to old age. Each of these is a multifactorial disease and some causes such as genetics, inactivity, diet, smoking, and tobacco use are among the etiological factors of these diseases. Therefore, she stated that these diseases would be more difficult to control. She finished his speech by thanking.
Moderator Assist. Prof. Dr. Nurten ELKİN also thanked both speakers. She received questions, contributions and suggestions from the participants. In her last sentence, she ended the activity by condemning the violence in health on behalf of all her colleagues and healthcare professionals working with such devotion.