The 2nd Medical Student Congress (ÜSCOM), aiming to provide knowledge and awareness about natural disasters, including their medical, psychosocial, surgical, and managerial aspects, to students who will take over the healthcare system in the future, was held at the Ibn-i Sina Auditorium of Üsküdar Üniversitesi NP Health Campus.
Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Şuayıp Birinci stated: “When everyone serves their own future, they are already serving their country. Serve your own future, and you will already be serving society.” Birinci noted that the earthquake affected 26 million people, including Syria, and said that they prevented at least 2,000 amputations.
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said: “As a profession, medicine aims to be beneficial to people. If you don't enjoy doing good for people, you cannot practice this profession.”
The Medical Student Congress, first hosted by Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Medicine last year, was held with international participation this year. The theme of the congress was determined as ‘Medical Approach to Natural Disasters,’ with a special focus on earthquakes.
At the Congress, which aimed to provide knowledge and awareness about natural disasters, including their medical, psychosocial, surgical, and managerial aspects, to students who will take over the healthcare system in the future, Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Şuayıp Birinci, Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, and Üsküdar Üniversitesi Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör delivered opening speeches.
The currently calculated cost of the Maraş earthquake is around 104 billion dollars
Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Şuayıp Birinci stated that there is no geography where disasters do not occur, noting that the number of disasters increased from 2002 to 2021, and according to the UN, the number of disasters, which was 387, is predicted to rise to 560 by 2030.
Emphasizing that disaster risks are increasing in Turkey as well, Dr. Birinci stated that the total number of disasters experienced globally today affected a population 2.5 times larger than Turkey's population, meaning 185 million people were affected.
Dr. Birinci noted that the easiest financial impacts of disasters are calculated, explaining that 16 million people were affected by the Düzce earthquake, which had a total cost of 22 billion dollars and destroyed 12 percent of the gross national product.
Dr. Birinci said, “The currently calculated cost of the Maraş earthquake, which we call the disaster of the century, is around 104 billion dollars.”
We prevented at least 2,000 amputations
Dr. Birinci stated that the sociological changes of the earthquake would also be learned through experience, adding that the earthquake affected 26 million people, including Syria.
Dr. Birinci stated that as the Ministry of Health, serious decisions were made under earthquake conditions, and they tried to reach the affected area by sea, air, and land, explaining that they planned to immediately evacuate patients out of the earthquake zone by any means necessary, transported 52,000 people, including with Presidential planes, and believe they prevented at least 2,000 amputations.
Dr. Birinci also stated that they delivered medications to patients with chronic diseases, and explained that the National Medical Rescue Team Unit (UMKE) was sent to the scene from the very first moment, touching many people's lives.
When everyone serves their own future…
Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Şuayıp Birinci, explaining that they focused on the individual in the organizations, said, “When everyone serves their own future, they are already serving their country. Serve your own future, and you will already be serving society. Currently, we are planning everything according to Istanbul.”
Dr. Birinci also noted that the World Health Organization wanted to jointly report on the operation carried out in the earthquake region.
Preparing to be least affected by the consequences of a disaster
Dr. Birinci also stated that in disaster situations like earthquakes, citizens should know that it is normal for there to be disruptions in public services reaching them within the first 72 hours, emphasizing the importance of preparing to be least affected by the consequences of the disaster.
Dr. Birinci explained that during the earthquake in Hatay, communication in hospitals was cut off, photos were taken for burial procedures, identities were matched with artificial intelligence, and technology was used at the highest level.
A physician must have a vision
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the congress, previously planned for June, was postponed due to the February 6th earthquake, and its theme was changed to disaster, adding that two major disasters occurred in the last 3 years: one being the pandemic, and the other the earthquake.
Recalling that Avicenna said 'We cannot flee, we are physicians' when everyone else was escaping during a plague outbreak in the Khorasan region, Prof. Dr. Tarhan stated that Avicenna washed his hands with vinegar and cared for the patients.
Prof. Dr. Tarhan, who defines having a goal that transcends oneself as a vision, pointed out that physicians should have a vision.
If you don't know how to do good for people, don't be a physician
Prof. Dr. Tarhan also emphasized the importance of physicians being observant, stating the following:
“As a profession, medicine aims to be beneficial to people. If you don't enjoy doing good for people, you cannot practice this profession. When a judge administers justice, the pleasure of administering justice is more important to them.
In medicine, the pleasure of treating a patient, receiving the patient's satisfaction and prayers, should be more important than anything else. First, be a good person, then be a good physician. You cannot be a good physician without being a good person.”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan also noted that even in disaster management, a person's biggest rival is themselves.
Natural disasters are moments of crisis
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Rector Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör, reminding that the university was holding its 2nd Medical Student Congress, addressed the medical students.
Prof. Dr. Güngör said, “You are being trained as medical doctors. However, our university has an important perspective, a philosophy. Whatever we do, let's first reach the depths of being human, let's learn to touch people. Everywhere you are, while biologically touching people and trying to heal them, we also need to make emotional and spiritual touches. Natural disasters are moments of crisis. There are biological collapses, injuries, losses, but first, there is emotional and spiritual collapse.”
The primary formula for reaching people is correct communication
Prof. Dr. Güngör, also drawing attention to the importance of establishing an emotional connection when approaching people during crisis moments, said the following:
“If we cannot touch emotionally, we cannot enter the biological healing process. You must also understand people. The primary formula for reaching people is correct communication. If we cannot reach them, we cannot initiate any healing process.
Unfortunately, an earthquake disaster occurred, and unfortunately, largely after unhealed wounds, here we will focus on a roadmap for what we can do for future crises. We will discuss what mistakes we made, where we made mistakes, what we experienced as a country and what we are experiencing, and how we can fill the gaps we left for what will happen next.”
It is our duty to take precautions before disasters occur
Congress President Prof. Dr. Hikmet Koçak stated that when an earthquake occurs, it is realized, but then forgotten over time, and said the following:
“We prioritized this congress to create awareness. Not only earthquakes but other disasters can also occur. 571 natural disasters have been identified worldwide. 21 of them are known to occur in Turkey. Our duty is to take precautions before disasters occur, and if they do, to pass through them with minimal damage.”
Koçak stated that the congress was gathered under four main headings: organization, surgical approach, internal approach, and psychosocial approach, and said, “We planned this congress thinking that we would learn lessons from it.”
The earthquake that occurred on February 6th
Student Congress President Ahmet Sait Dağaşan began his speech by recalling the earthquake that occurred on February 6th. Dağaşan said, “On the morning after the night we had everything, we woke up having lost most of it. We witnessed the efforts of healthcare workers. As the congress team, we thought about what we could do in this regard and organized our medical approach to natural disasters congress to raise awareness. I hope that in the face of the expected great Marmara earthquake, we will not be late as we were on February 6th.”
What causes “Sudden Death in Earthquake Victims”?
In the opening session of the congress, chaired by Prof. Dr. Hikmet Koçak, Prof. Dr. Bingür Sönmez gave a speech titled “Sudden Death in Earthquake Victims.”
Within the scope of the congress, which was also broadcast live from ÜÜTV, in the session titled 'Organization in Disasters' chaired by Prof. Dr. Haydar Sur, Journalist Kemal Öztürk delivered a speech on 'Communication and Organization in Disasters,' Nasuh Mahruki on 'Turkey's Seismicity and Struggle Against Earthquakes,' Pharmacist Bilge Çalışkan on 'Pharmacy Services in Earthquakes/Observations of a Pharmacist,' and Prof. Dr. Nesrin Erçelen on 'Urban Disaster Coordination: Hatay Earthquake Experience.' In the session titled 'Psychosocial Approach in Disasters,' chaired by Prof. Dr. Sermin Kesebir, Assist. Prof. Melek Gözde Luş spoke on 'Psychiatric Approach in Children,' Assoc. Prof. Serdar Nurmedov on 'Psychiatric Approach in Adults,' Prof. Dr. İsmail Barış on 'Social Approach,' and Assist. Prof. Tuğba Ünsal Sapan on 'Genetic Identification in Natural Disasters.' Additionally, students also made presentations.
