Community action bring floating ambulance to Istanbul's Princes' Islands

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Istanbul’s Princes’ Islands will be furnished with a floating ambulance that will initially be deployed on Kınalıada by August. The money for the floating ambulance was collected as part of a campaign for 11-year-old Nilüfer Akbal, who was diagnosed with lymphoma. After she passed away, residents decided to use the money to transfer emergency patients to the mainland

The Prince Islands whose population can exceed 150,000 during the summer will have a floating ambulance which will be purchased by donations from the residents.

Istanbul’s Princes’ Islands are soon to receive a floating ambulance following residents’ donations that have finally made it possible to bring emergency health services to the archipelago.

“A renowned poet had a heart-attack here in the past. We carried him in a dust cart to the coast and then transferred him to the hospital by boat since we had no floating ambulance,” Ali Ercüment Polat, the former deputy mayor of the local Adalar Municipality recently told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “If there had been stormy weather and if he hadn’t been lucky, [he] could have died.”

Turkish, Armenian and Greek residents of Kınalıada, one of the Princes’ Islands, originally raised 40,000 Turkish Liras for the treatment of Nilüfer Akbal, a 11-year-old from the island who was suffering from lymphoma.

The girl’s condition, however, progressed rapidly and she soon succumbed to her illness. Instead of the money being used for her treatment, the funds – which had compounded to 90,000 liras with interest – the local governor’s office allocated the amount toward purchasing a floating ambulance for the islands, whose population can exceed 150,000 during the summer.

“The price of a floating ambulance is 200,000 Turkish Liras; therefore the Red Crescent will provide the rest,” Red Crescent Adalar Branch Chief Executive Officer Avedis Hilkat told the Daily News.

The vehicle will be deployed in Kınalıada and be ready for service by August. “Although the ambulance will be deployed in Kınalıada, it will be in service on the other islands as well,” Hilkat said, adding that he was overjoyed that their efforts had finally born fruit.

Hilkat had originally spearheaded the drive to collect money for Nilüfer Akbal before also launching the campaign for donations to purchase a floating ambulance.

Long struggle for services

Polat said the municipality and residents had long demanded emergency health services as patients had to be continually transferred by boat to the Kartal Education and Research Hospital on Istanbul’s Anatolian side.

Despite making a number of demands over the years, Polat said little progress was ever made. “An ambulance and a hospital have been our urgent needs. Drowning incidents occur in summer, but we have no lifeguard. Unfortunately, we received no positive answer on any of our applications during our tenure.”

Father to assume responsibility for ambulance

The maintenance of the new floating ambulance is to be entrusted to Nevzat Akbal, Nilüfer’s father, said Polat, adding that if the father received a license, he could also operate the watercraft.

Still mourning over his daughter, Akbal said his family owed much to the people of Kınalıada.

“I have been running a store on Kınalıada since 1979. There is no religious, ethnic or linguistic discrimination. We are like a family here. Nothing can bring my daughter back, but I will protect this ambulance like I would protect my daughter. It will always remind me of her,” he said.

“My daughter’s last will was to have a bicycle and [in a way] they have turned her dream into reality now,” the father said.