The lack of hospitals in the Dodecanese seem to have been the reason for the advertisement of the Turkish clinic, as there is no radiation therapy department at the Rhodes hospital.
Private clinic in Turkey “advertises” support throughout the treatment to cancer patients to whom it extends an invitation by providing up to discount on the tickets
The sponsored advertisement of the Turkish private clinic Acibadem, with branches in the Netherlands, Bulgaria and “Macedonia” (instead of North Macedonia) as stated characteristically invites the Dodecanese in Greek to fill out a form to receive a free opinion on their cancer treatment (!) even providing as stated a discount of 50 % on the routes Kos – Bodrum!
In particular, in the sponsored advertisement of the private Turkish clinic, which is addressed to a large audience of the Dodecanese via social media, the following are mentioned in Greek:
“As Acibadem Bodrum Hospital, we welcome our Greek visitors from the Dodecanese and provide support in Greek throughout their treatment. With our multidisciplinary clinical approach, we offer all the computed tomography (PET CT), radiation therapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery that will be needed in the treatment of cancer, from diagnosis to treatment, with special rates for our visitors coming from the islands in Bodrum. Acibadem Bodrum is the largest full-service hospital in the region, with 104 beds, 23 intensive care beds, 9 neonatal intensive care units, 4 operating rooms, 10 emergency rooms and a helipad. Fill out the form below to get a free opinion on your Cancer Treatment from ACIBADEM’s specialist doctors! “50% discount on Kos – Bodrum routes”.
All this, while the Rhodes Hospital collapses because of her understaffingand the indifference of the central state and the cries of protest of doctors and nurses fall on deaf ears, Dodecanese internet users are “bombarded” with advertisements for providing high level health services from the neighboring country.
In fact, the targeted advertisements started a few days after the urgent need for a Radiation Therapy Department to operate in Rhodes was highlighted once again with a letter from the Dodecanese Cancer Patients Support Association – which was published by the “democratic” – to the administrator of the Rhodes Hospital, Mr. Stavros Tsadis, quoting a series of reasons that substantiate the request.
The president of the Dodecanese Cancer Patients Support Association Mrs. Maria Kritikou, called the private Turkish clinic’s ad an “extremely serious matter that should not go unnoticed.”
“This is an extremely serious issue that should not go unnoticed, not only locally but centrally as well. Our neighbors see the huge gap that exists in the Dodecanese in the treatment of cancer patients and are trying to use this situation to their advantage. It is their perennial indifference and callousness that have led to the current impasse for oncology patients. In the Dodecanese, oncology patients can only undergo chemotherapy. For surgical oncology and radiation therapy, which are part of the cancer patient’s treatment, the patient will have to leave either Rhodes or the islands, incurring additional costs such as travel and accommodation. It is imperative to create a Radiotherapy Oncology Center on the island for the hundreds of cancer patients on our islands”, says Ms Kritikou to “d”.
Alongside, the president of the Dodecanese Cancer Support Association sets yet another parameter, beyond serving oncology patients. “We should not forget that many oncology patients from abroad who want to take their vacations choose a destination where they can follow their treatments uninterruptedly, which cannot be done in Rhodes for all the reasons we mentioned above. It is common for oncology patients to spend their holidays abroad and there are many destinations that they can choose with modern hospitals and clinics, these destinations do not include the Dodecanese”, he says characteristically.
It is worth noting that it is difficult to accurately capture the number of cancer patients in the Dodecanese who undergo radiation, as there is no registry of cancer patients.
In the last five years, based on the data available to the Cancer Patients Support Association, only 750 patients were served through the Association by handling procedural and financial issues, noting that the number of cancer patients in the Dodecanese is increasing dramatically every year.
In fact, in the Association’s letter to the governor of the Rhodes Hospital regarding the creation of a Radiation Therapy Unit, it was mentioned that especially for the Dodecanese the criteria should not be the same as for a large city in mainland Greece, as in G.N. Patients come to Rhodes from all the islands of the Dodecanese.
Each patient, if he does not find a place in a guesthouse near the big hospitals, will have to spend at least 1,500 euros per month just for his accommodation, as the treatments can exceed two months, without counting the costs of food and transportation alongside the loss of income, since many times he has to quit his job.
All these parameters should be taken into account, notes Ms. Kritikou, stressing that the extensions of the advertised health benefits from the Turkish private clinic are very serious and should not go unnoticed as a fact, sounding the alarm bells.
Source: Skai
I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years, and my work has been featured on many different news websites. I am also an author, and my work has been published in several books. I specialize in opinion writing, and I often write about current events and controversial topics. I am a very well-rounded writer, and I have a lot of experience in different areas of journalism. I am a very hard worker, and I am always willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done.
