Have Turkey’s Hospitals Turned Into “Cemeteries” For Algerian Patients?

Questions have begun to surface about Turkish hospitals, which have recently turned into “cemeteries” for Algerian patients, those whose circumstances forced them to move to Turkish hospitals in search of treatment that costs them billions, and the strange thing is that every time the success of a surgery is announced, the matter ended with the patients’ death.

The city of Bejaia witnessed many similar cases, the latest of which was the news of the death of Noura Abbar, 54, after her health deteriorated, despite the announcement of the success of the surgery that she recently conducted in a Turkish hospital, which cost 65.000 euros, after the residents of the municipality of Amalou Basdouk in Bejaia showed solidarity and collected the aforementioned amount to save the life of the patient suffering from complex liver disease. The patient was given an urgent travel license, as Ms. Noura traveled to Turkey on a private flight accompanied by the donor, and according to “Echorouk” information, the hospital that the patient went to initially refused to perform the surgery because of the probability of her success was small, while another hospital agreed to perform the surgery despite its seriousness.

Here, the Algerians also remember the young patient, “Lounis Guenana”, who comes from the village of “Al-Marj” in the municipality of Kandira in Bejaia, and for whom Turkish hospitals restored hope for recovery after suffering from leukemia and he was transferred with his father to Turkey, where he performed a marrow transplant from his father. The surgery was said to be successful at the time, before the patient’s situation worsened and his death was announced, and the costs of the surgery were estimated at 130.000 euros, as the benefactors mobilized to collect the required amount in a record circumstance thanks to the solidarity of Algerians inside and outside the country.

In the same context, the child, Lamin, 7, from the village of Amsiwane in the municipality of Timzrit in Bejaia, faced the same sad end. He suffered leukemia and was also transferred to Turkey for treatment for the amount of 1.8 billion centimes before his death, and the examples are numerous.

It becomes necessary to think about the situation and reconsider the temptations offered by some Turkish hospitals which are “selling illusions to patients in the absence of communication and medical information for patients and their families” – says one of the citizens – who added; “It is true, that there are hopeless cases, but some hospitals delude the patient into recovery and the success of the surgery, but their only concern is to collect money.” While another citizen believes that the blame lies with the Algerian authorities due to the bad situation of the health system in Algeria, as it has become necessary to speed up the reform of the country’s hospitals while providing them with all the necessary means in addition to the demand to modernize the sector, and most importantly, to clean the sector from intruders who destroyed the health system in Algeria, forcing patients to risk their lives in foreign hospitals which only concern is to gain money.