Discussions

The Turkish American Doctors` Association of the Midwest (TADAM) is a new organization formed by the Turkish and American physicians in the Midwest States with the anticipation of promoting professional solidarity, as well as fostering social and cultural exchange (www.tadam.org).

On March 26, 2005, TADAM organized a medical ball which was attended by close to 250 participants. The honorary guests were Dr. Recep Akdag, the Minister of Health of Turkey, and Dr. Faruk Logoglu, the Ambassador of Turkey to the U.S. A series of meetings preceded the ball; the main focus of the first official TADAM-Health Ministry meeting and the subsequent Open Forum was to bring the “residency equivalence” issue of Turkish physicians is the U.S. to the attention of Prof. Akdag and other Turkish officials. Medical doctors who are returning to Turkey are experiencing various problems when they try to get their equivalence in order to practice their profession in Turkey. At the end of this forum, Dr. Cengizhan Ozturk, a TASSA Board Member, introduced TASSA and stated its support to TADAM’s initiative. Dr. Ozturk mentioned that the current system is subjective and inconsistent, and that it creates difficulties in bringing mobility for specialized people in the medical field between the two countries.

TASSA proposed the following recommendation to remedy this issue: If an equivalent residency, specialty, subspecialty Board is available in Turkey, a US-Board-holding physicians should pass it within a certain period (e.g. 2 years, and during this certain period they should be eligible to work in Turkey). If an equivalent Board is NOT available in Turkey, US-Board-holding physicians should be eligible to work in Turkey as long as they keep their US-Board valid. The meeting concluded with an action to establish a joint group to study this issue; the ultimate solution might require the participation of Turkish Higher Education Council (YOK).

The same afternoon, three private hospital representatives from Turkey introduced their hospitals to the local physicians. All three hospitals are aiming for academic restructuring in the upcoming years. They stated that the quality of health care in the private sector is improving in Turkey dramatically and providing a nice atmosphere to bring some of the qualified medical doctors back from the US. The International Hospital was represented by Dr. Cihangir Celik, the Chief of Medical Staff, and George Roundtree, the CEO of the International Hospital Health Group. It was followed by Dr. Metin Cakmakci, the Medical Director of the Acibadem Health Group, and Mehmet Ali Aydinlar, the CEO/Chairman of the Acibadem Health Group. The last presentation was from Dr. Murat Dayanikli, the CEO of the Anadolu Health Group, which opened its hospital in Istanbul just a couple of months ago.