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Turkey’s hospitals are full of patients injured in the earthquakes, and many of the millions left homeless in the cities have left for rural areas to find refuge with relatives, making it harder for sick people to find medical assistance. A group of Turkish and French paramedics has been travelling to rural areas to respond to this need. FRANCE 24’s Thameen Al-Kheetan, Julien Chehida and Brice Agier-Grégoire accompanied the team on a visit to a village near Adiyaman.
For over a week, a medical team led by Franco-Turkish doctor Mahmut Gündesli has been delivering food and providing medical treatment to different villages throughout Turkey. They have a different destination every day.
This morning, their truck is full of food and medical equipment. They’re heading to the village of Çamgazi, near Adiyaman.
“There are several families who need food, but also medical treatment. There are no doctors, and no clinics near them, so we are going to see them,” says Dr. Gündesli.
The overcrowded conditions that many of these families now find themselves in have resulted in illnesses spreading more rapidly.
“They all have the same symptoms. It’s tracheitis, and I think it’s due to the fact that there are many people in a small place. Usually, they’re 4 or 5 living together. But now, you can have up to 20 people because those living in the city have moved here,” says the doctor after visiting one family.
According to the World Health Organisation, a lack of proper medical treatment following the earthquakes could result in a larger number of victims.
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