Trakya University’s Health, Culture and Sports Directorate Scientific Research Community took the initiative to host the 14th National Medicine Student Congress, focusing on the theme “Multidisciplinary Approach to Emergency Medicine”. During the student congress, Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı delivered a speech.

Rector Prof. Dr. Erhan Tabakoğlu, Deputy Mayor Dr. Ertuğrul Tanrıkulu, Dean of Faculty of Medicine Prof. Dr. Filiz Akata, academicians, and students attended the event.

Moderated by Prof. Dr. Servet Altay, Head of the Department of Cardiology at the Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, the speech addressed the significant increase in the number of faculties such as medicine and law, reflecting on the changes occurring in higher education recently.

In his speech, Prof. Dr. Ortaylı also commented on the migration of physicians from Türkiye to European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands to work.  He emphasized that while these countries may not particularly favor Turks, it is not due to their Muslim identity but to their work ethic. He also noted that medicine is not a preferred profession in Germany due to low salaries and poor working conditions. Despite this, Turkish physicians are not welcomed there because they would pose a competition. Besides that, Prof. Dr.  Ortaylı stated that German and Dutch are not the languages of medicine, advising physicians to learn English first and then keep learning other languages.

Giving brief information about the history of medicine, Prof. Dr. Ortaylı pointed out the misconception that modern medicine originated with Hippocrates, stating that Hippocrates did not conduct studies on cadavers, with the first examples of such studies occurring in Egypt for religious reasons. During his speech, Prof. Dr. Ortaylı mentioned Iranian and Islamic medicine, and then he addressed attacks on healthcare workers, emphasizing those individuals who attack healthcare workers are mentally unstable.

Translator: Ronahi Bedirhan (Mütercim ve Tercümanlık Bölümü)