ISTANBUL, May 4 -- Mehmet Kuyumcu, an orthopedist of a state hospital in Istanbul, wore three layers of protective suits, two pairs of gloves, a facial mask, a goggle, and a face shield with maximum caution before he entered the operating room.
Following a series of precise rules for disinfection and sterilization, Kuyumcu and three other medical staff were finally ready to operate a COVID-19 patient with a femur fracture at the Sancaktepe Sehit Prof.Dr. Ilhan Varank Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul.
With a death rate below one percent, the hospital has been considered as one of the most successful health care facilities in Turkey in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
For Nurettin Yiyit, the chief physician of the hospital, the success is based on the fact that the hospital starts the treatments of COVID-19 patients at an early stage in the quickest way possible.
After the pandemic started to be seen in Turkey in mid-March, the hospital has received a total of 58,000 applications. Nearly 12,000 of them were found as suspicious and further tests were conducted.
"So far, 2,500 COVID-19 patients have been treated at the hospital, and the mortality rate is below one percent," the chief doctor told Xinhua.
"All patients with the moderate and severe clinical condition and those with additional diseases were hospitalized, and mild cases were followed up on an outpatient basis," he said, adding that contacts of positive cases have been constantly screened in the field and tested.
In a move to better cope with the pandemic, the hospital established 16 clinics for COVID-19 patients at its two compounds located on the Asian side of the city.
"We categorized 10 of these clinics, according to additional diseases of patients from the virus, such as COVID-19 neurology, COVID-19 gynecology or COVID-19 orthopedics," Yiyit told Xinhua. "Every clinic also has a chest disease specialist and internal medicine specialist."
The ultimate protection of health care workers is the red line of the hospital. The number of infected personnel is 1.2 percent, according to Yiyit.
The sterilization rules are tighter in the intensive care unit, which has 75 isolated rooms with negative pressure.
"This intensive care setup is very important for the protection of health personnel," Yiyit continued, noting that the medical personnel use their regular intensive care clothing on the common area, but wear extra protective suits before entering negative pressure rooms.
"They change their suits from top to the bottom each time they go in and out," Yiyit continued.
Altun Yarligan, a COVID-19 pregnant patient, has been staying in one of the negative pressure rooms at the intensive care for almost 12 days, but on Monday she received the good news.
The doctor said she would be moved to a regular room soon as her condition is getting better each day.
"As soon as I reach my phone, I will call my son," she told her doctor. "I haven't heard his voice for almost two weeks," Yaligan added emotionally.
Kuyumcu and his team, meanwhile, completed the surgery of the COVID-19 patient in almost two hours.
"Everybody did their job very well," he told Xinhua as he was taking his protective suits off. "We will follow our patient in the intensive care unit for a while," he said. "Hopefully, we will take him to a regular room soon."
Turkey has reported 1,614 new COVID-19 cases and 64 more deaths on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 127,659 and the death toll to 3,461.