Expats deny blood veto
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Anatolian Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 27, 2008 00:00
DİDİM - Expatriates refute reports claiming that hospitals in Aydın did not accept blood donations from foreigners. Those reports could be misleading about Turkey and need to be corrected, the head of the Didim Expats Community says.
Expatriates in Didim refuted claims that Turkish hospitals reject blood donations from foreigners.
Speaking at a press conference, Head of the Didim Expats Community, Carole Fascione, declared that the reports stating that numerous hospitals did not accept blood donations from foreigners were false.
Fascione said that the news titled "No to foreign blood" in dailies and news agencies earlier this week were untrue.
’My statements are misinterpreted’
It was reported that a group of British people were not admitted when they wanted to donate blood.
"The story reads as I have said, ’It is not a problem if we donate organs, then why is it a problem to donate blood? That attitude raises questions on racism,’" said Fascione at the conference. "I haven’t said such thing. A reporter asked me what I had to say about British people. I said ’If that is true, it should not have happened.’ I never mentioned anything about organ donations, either. My statements are misinterpreted and exaggerated."
She said reports could be misleading about Turkey.
"I was surprised when I read the story," Fascione said. "It can be misleading about Turkey. I will demand a correction."
Fascione said officials from the Turkish Red Crescent Society, or Kızılay, called her and voiced their grief over the claims.
She was also informed that having a residence permit was enough to be eligible to donate blood for foreigners. One of the British people that were allegedly involved in the reports, Kym Çiftçi, completely denied the incident.
"We were there at the BSK Anka Hospital in Aydın on Dec. 17 for a medical check," she said. "A couple of journalists were there and they took some pictures, but nobody talked to us."
Çiftçi added that the group never requested to give a blood donation to Kızılay on that day, saying that "the reports are completely untrue."
Zafer Berkman and Yasemin Tosun, the Communication Directors of the BSK Anka Hospital, confirmed the Brits visited the hospital and that it was not about blood donation.
No complaints
Fascione said she never had encountered such complaints.
"I don’t believe that any country would discriminate like this in health," said Fascione, who has been living in Turkey for eight years. "I live here, and donate my blood, and I have never had any complaints about it. This is not possible in Didim, where 10,000 foreigners live."
Dr. Cenk Serin, the head of the Kızılay’s Blood Donation Unit in Aydın, also reacted to the reports.
Busy with blood donations in Didim all through the week, Serin denied refusing foreigners’ blood.
"Due to the World Health Organization (WHO) regulations, we never discriminate between language, religion, race or sex," Serin said to Fascione. "In the past the organization made some restrictions in some parts of Africa due to malaria risk and in England when the mad cow disease broke out, it had limited blood donations.
But that was an exception, and the principles of the World Health Organization remains qualified for every country and every health institution."
Serin strongly opposed the reports. "The claims that foreigners’ blood is not accepted are not true and completely indecent," said Serin. "In three days of our work in Didim, foreigners did not come to donate blood. But in the past, many foreigners have come."
Speaking at a press conference, Head of the Didim Expats Community, Carole Fascione, declared that the reports stating that numerous hospitals did not accept blood donations from foreigners were false.
Fascione said that the news titled "No to foreign blood" in dailies and news agencies earlier this week were untrue.
’My statements are misinterpreted’
It was reported that a group of British people were not admitted when they wanted to donate blood.
"The story reads as I have said, ’It is not a problem if we donate organs, then why is it a problem to donate blood? That attitude raises questions on racism,’" said Fascione at the conference. "I haven’t said such thing. A reporter asked me what I had to say about British people. I said ’If that is true, it should not have happened.’ I never mentioned anything about organ donations, either. My statements are misinterpreted and exaggerated."
She said reports could be misleading about Turkey.
"I was surprised when I read the story," Fascione said. "It can be misleading about Turkey. I will demand a correction."
Fascione said officials from the Turkish Red Crescent Society, or Kızılay, called her and voiced their grief over the claims.
She was also informed that having a residence permit was enough to be eligible to donate blood for foreigners. One of the British people that were allegedly involved in the reports, Kym Çiftçi, completely denied the incident.
"We were there at the BSK Anka Hospital in Aydın on Dec. 17 for a medical check," she said. "A couple of journalists were there and they took some pictures, but nobody talked to us."
Çiftçi added that the group never requested to give a blood donation to Kızılay on that day, saying that "the reports are completely untrue."
Zafer Berkman and Yasemin Tosun, the Communication Directors of the BSK Anka Hospital, confirmed the Brits visited the hospital and that it was not about blood donation.
No complaints
Fascione said she never had encountered such complaints.
"I don’t believe that any country would discriminate like this in health," said Fascione, who has been living in Turkey for eight years. "I live here, and donate my blood, and I have never had any complaints about it. This is not possible in Didim, where 10,000 foreigners live."
Dr. Cenk Serin, the head of the Kızılay’s Blood Donation Unit in Aydın, also reacted to the reports.
Busy with blood donations in Didim all through the week, Serin denied refusing foreigners’ blood.
"Due to the World Health Organization (WHO) regulations, we never discriminate between language, religion, race or sex," Serin said to Fascione. "In the past the organization made some restrictions in some parts of Africa due to malaria risk and in England when the mad cow disease broke out, it had limited blood donations.
But that was an exception, and the principles of the World Health Organization remains qualified for every country and every health institution."
Serin strongly opposed the reports. "The claims that foreigners’ blood is not accepted are not true and completely indecent," said Serin. "In three days of our work in Didim, foreigners did not come to donate blood. But in the past, many foreigners have come."