Hi everybody,

My husband and I will be moving in Turkey next year and I was wondering how is the life of foreign women especially if you are pregnant and have to give birth.

How is the health system and also what are the difference of care during the pregnancy and the child follow up (vaccination etc..)

I would love to read your experiences

Thanks!

I don´t know about the details of the health care process... but if there is a family doctor in your area, do get to know her/him and establish contact ahead of time. They will guide you from there. If there isn´t family medicine center where you are, I have no idea how it works...

thanks for your help!

Sorry I couldn´t be of more help

 I thought you had your last litter in Turkey?

Hi and good luck...  Most likely you wil be given health insurance by the company you or your husband is working for.. If not, it is very wise to make insurance once you move to Turkey.  It is not very costly but very handy.  Once you have insurance, you can go to any Private hospital you like, amd mostly you don´t pay for anything.. as far as i remember, medicine is never included, but they might have changed it.  You can find a family doctor from this private hospital.  It is very common to see speacialists in Turkey, as the GP concept is starting only recently.  You don´t need to worry once you have insurance.  Some good hospitals are Acibadem Hospital, American Hospital..  But of course I am assuming you are moving to Istanbul..  You can not use a government hospital because you are a foreigner, or they will charge you what a private hospital will charge.. and it is normally very crowded.. For the pregnancy, very good care is given.  You will have mothly check ups, where they will do an u/s everytime you go.  You can choose to have a C/section.. it is most of to times up to you.  Insurance covers all the costs.. But, very important, the insurance will not cover delivery in the first year.

For the quality of health cares and hospitals, i would only say that, there are alot of foreigner people who come for medical operations to Turkey...

And maybe you would have language problems at first, but in metropols in Turkey there are lots of foreign people living... in the neighbourhood i live... there are nearly germans living as much as turkish people living

so just dont worry... Turkey will take care of you good

By the way Turkish people are known to be very hospitable.. they love foreigners, and they love helping..

 Thank you so much. It reassures me! I had a miscarriage in march and I was feeling worry about having my first child in Turkey. I appreciate your message. Thanks for your time writting.

 Yes, I have Kurdish friends who are testament to this..........

 This is very interesting... I liked to read this!

 Thanks for proving me that!

 No strictly true actually. They come to Turkey for PRIVATE operations (like plastic surgery) because it costs about a third of the price compared to most other european countries!

 Canim one of my friends is working in American Hospital i just talk about what i see not what i read or hear from other peoples

How many friends you have from Turkey anyway?

you have to be alittle more sensitive here as the person asking this question is very worried about moving to Turkey

 I think nothing can be one sided... did you know that we had a Kurdish president?  You may ask your friends about this..

 Believe it or not - there was a guy dealing flyers out by the airport in Antalya last time I was there

Depending on where you are in Turkey will determine your level of care.  If you are going to live in a major city, you can expect similar care to what you are probably used to.  If you are going to move out to the countryside, critical care becomes an issue.  For example, if something were to go wrong with your health or an emergency should arise, some remote towns do not have ambulance service.  (My father in law became very ill in June and was transported by the village bus to the nearest hospital...needless to say that the bus driver was not a medical professional).  This is common in many countries around the world and not just Turkey.  Also, rural hospitals often lack proper equipment and response mechanisms to critical care situations. 

 Well, that´s one way to put it. But he only got that far because because he repressed his kurdish side

 Still.. do you have any other example in the world to bring up a president who belongs to a minority group?  I have witnessed people who applie for political assylum - not because they were tortured or anything, just to go and live oveseas.. because otherwise there is no way he can go 

 Hehe... Turkey is very open that way. You can become president regardless of your ethnicity as long as you are willing to give it up

 We will be moving to Istanbul. Thanks for sharing. I hope your father in law is doing better.

And how do you know that?

 I wish you the best of luck and the best of health.  You should be perfectly fine in Istanbul.   

 You brought it up yourself

AND WE ARE NOT HOSPITABLE....

Unidentified assailants on Wednesday killed five police and a civilian driver in an attack in southern province of  Diyarbakýr, hours before the Turkish Parliament approved the extension of the military’s mandate to conduct cross border operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, for a year.

The assailants raked a police bus with automatic weapons and hand grenades around 6 p.m. local time killing six and injuring at least 20 people, according to Interior Minister Beþir Atalay.

..

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=155317

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/excontent.php?htmlcon=terrorattacttopolice.htm

It is like a low level war right now

 Thank you so much. I wish you too the best of health and why not a cute,healthy baby for 2009!!!

 Good luck.  You will feel at home, don´t worry.

 Hospitable?  So they are guests then according to you..? And their place of origin would be..? There´s a new twist I haven´t seen before.

Anyway life82 was asking for advice in this thread so let´s not spoil it.

 Thanks!

 Oh sweety, you think I also dont talk about what I know?  Of course I know of many people who go there for cheap plastic surgery - even the English Turks return there for cheap surgery (not because of it´s quality, but the price!). 

Our dear departed Lyndie also talked about offering accommodation to those "recovering" from their cheap Turkish surgery!!!

 He does not need to repress anything, because there´s no need to reveal and emphasize your ethnic origin. Do you know that in Turkey it´s not very possible to find a "real ethnic Turk", most of the people have different origins, laz, circassian, bulgar, greek, armenian, arab, kurd, russian, georgian, iranian,jewish and so many different ethnics, with different amounts. So why would it be different for Kurds? For centuries, you have been living together and you are similar. No one asks about ethnics in Turkey because there´s no need to know it. So what would you expect the president to say, "I´m a Kurd"?, and so what?

 Strange

From what I hear the Turkish police need a lesson from Meltem in "living together" and "no one asks about ethnics" - they target and discriminate against Kurds on a regular basis ......

when we were living together for centuries, no one was screaming to their faces ´How glorious to be a Turk´ or  telling them ´if you dont say it you are my enemy´..

Quoting WarTrain

scriminate against Kurds on a regular basis ......

Could you give us more details about this discrimination that is on regular basis?

Quoting mltm

Quoting WarTrain

scriminate against Kurds on a regular basis ......

Could you give us more details about this discrimination that is on regular basis?

 Sure.  If you are Kurdish, you are treated as a potential PKK terrorist.  You have to show your identity card far more often than non-Kurds and are subjected to verbal abuse by police.

You don´t know this?

Mltm for you:

The heart of the problem:

  So, here is the summary: In this country, you cannot say “Happy Bayram” in Kurdish. But you can say “cleanse the Kurdish microbes” in Turkish.

  All this, once again, brings us to the heart of our problem: The Turkish Republic exists in order to protect its ideology, not its citizens. The only good citizens are those who fit into the official ideology.

Rest is here:

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/editorial.php?ed=mustafa_akyol

 There are racists every where, in Turkey as well. There´re racist people in Turkey, no one can deny it, but do not state it as there´s a real racism in Turkey because there´s not.

The intention of this statement is obvious and it´s far from being racist, and the fact that this statement have been being used by racists does not make it a racist statement in its origin. Because The intention was to unite people not to divide.

As I said there´s no pure Turk. I doubt if one can come up with his/her pure turkish genes, because there´s no. So, by being Turk, you understand being a citizen of Turkey, being someone who loves to be a part of this country and its people.

It is easy for you and I to make such romantic statements about "all living together" Meltem because, frankly, we are on the easy side and do not belong to any ethnic minority. 

Certainly I would not write such romantic statements about my country as you did about Turkey because I am aware of racism within my country (including our police force).   However, we did not go quite as far as the Turks (i.e. in the past banning their native language and literature) and I am sure you must have Turk/Kurd friends and I am equally sure they do not share quite such a rose-tinted view of being a citizen of Turkey as you do.

 Because you were the only power in these lands! Thats the problem thehandsom! power! now the other have power! and you have problems! isnt it exact to see?

When you have that power, again the rest will have problems!

you know very well it is not entirely true. Definition of Turk is ethnicity.

Apart from Ataturk´s one saying ´Ne mutlu Turk´um diyene´, almost all talks about related to ´being a Turk´ relates to ethnicity not being a citizen of Turkey.

That´s very enough for all who won´t talk about "pregnancy in Turkey"

 Is that an order?  By whose authority?

 I cant see that any rules are being broken here - and I can´t see that you are moderator on this forum

What if it were?

 I would pay no attention

well we may object strongly!!

I may object strongly for replying with not related posts in a topic about pregnancy as well

 We were discussing the first part of the topic "LIVING" so we are within the topic...... however, I object strongly to the fact that you objected strongly

I think you are discussing about dying because of your political sights, which is not even close to living and pregnancy

 Actually we were talking about racism - which is an extremely important factor when choosing to live in a country - don´t you think?

 Which etnicity? As I said there´s no more one pure ethnic turk, but what you hear in your mind is Turk is anything other than Kurd, then what you do becomes kurdish nationalism.

I acknowledge that people should be more freer to live their culture and to talk their language but you cannot say that there is no step taken for this.

 But the major problem that might separate us is "not being willing to be part of this one nation", then at this point there´s nothing Turkish government can do about.

well..

But your moderator friend was participating too..

So are you saying your level as a mod is higher than  meltem so you can warn her?

 Caliptrix is not listed as a mod in this section of the forum

Hey I have been discussing and I hate to be interrupted! even if I´m violating the forum rules!!

I dont think you get the point here..Because of your nationalism kurdish nationalism is at this level right now in Turkey. (Because almost each nationalism defines itself more or less with hatred of ´others´ rather  than ´love for your country´

You say ´steps are taken´, but Mltm, look at the article I quoted up there. Can you say that a person who is thinking that he/she is a kurd can live as free as you are? What if that person does not want to say ´Ne mutlu Turkum diyene´?

what are you going to do with it?
He deserves to live in that country as much as you and I do!!

I was really thinking that you were a reasonable person. Thanks a lot for showing me the right way, and your personality. You are the best!

 I have not read that article yet, but then the same question goes to you what if you said "ne mutlu Türküm diyene" and became competely equal to any other citizen? What will you lose, what do you have against this? Why do you always insist to pronounce your ethnical origins, in our daily life we have nothing to do with etnics. I´m not ethnically 100% turkish, but I do not feel that I have to be pure turkish to say that I´m a turk because I was born in Turkey, I got education there, I lived there with other turkish people. You are the one who tries to make things hard. In streets everywhere I hear kurdish people talk kurdish so loudly, if that´s what you mean and in their private as well no one bans them anything. However I think your problem is rather with "being a Turk", because you are indeed the one who thinks racistly.

To me, it is better to consider the meaning of these sentences, when it is said, and where it is said!

To gather the a society again, these should have been said after a very very heavy war! we talk about 1920s right?

Its their stupity to get that meaning and provake the people against other people with using this... That is also not true! but that doesnt again make it right to provake the other side...

I didnt read Caliptrix´ posts when I was writing mine, so when I looked back I came to the conclusion he is right, and therefore have deleted my own message, sorry for the inconvenience. Can we please go back to the topic? You can discuss these further ofcourse, but please open a seperate thread to share your thoughts.

Thank you.

 This is an oversimplification. It is true that surgery in Turkey, especially plastic surgery, is much cheaper than in the west of Europe. But it is not true that there arent many people who go for medical treatment to Turkey because of its quality. I am convinced that service and knowledge in good hospitals in Turkey (private foundations, or state unviersities in the big cities) are of a higher quality than the ones in the Netherlands.

I have read quite some articles about eye laser treatment in Turkey being further developed than in the rest of Europe, and treatment of ´smaller´ cases which include pains of muscles and recovery of bones is said to be better as well. This is no surprise: a doctor in Istanbul will have much more practice and experience than a doctor in Amsterdam is ever going to have. Experience ofcourse doesnt necessarily mean quality, but definitely medical treatment in Turkey is not of any less quality than in Europe (I wouldnt know about small hospitals though. but then again, last week two hospitals here were closed because their ORs werent hygenic)

One extremely important advantage of a hospital stay in Turkey is that the chances of contracting MRSA are probably close to nil! 

Since we came to live in Turkey my husband has had an operation and I have had some eye treatment - I can´t recommend our hospital highly enough!

 that is good.....worrying reports out today for uk

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1072617/One-300-NHS-patients-killed-blunders-Richard-Branson-warns-new-health-crusade.html

 although this may just be propeganda for branson to take over the nhs......ooooh i might get a red uniform instead

 Then you could all be Nurse Managers and attend lots of pointless meetings!!!

 heh heh we do that already

 Have moderators decided that going off topic is now not allowed?  If this is the case then why don´t they enforce it in other threads, or is it, as usual, a case of picking a rule from the tree when it suits them...

In addition, the question was about LIVING and pregnancy, so I would dispute the fact that we were off topic anyway!

Further, Caliptrix is a moderator in the language forums ONLY.  When Erdinc was mod in that section I well remember Catwoman informing him that he was not to moderate the discussion forums. 

why do these things always turn to political, racist issues, with people "disputing"

lol, first time i use that word

Because arguing about anything else isn´t very fun.

I KNOOW!!!

your soo right lol!!!

 I don´t mean to be rude but when reading this, a quote from Samantha from Sex and the City came to my mind:

Why do dogs lick their balls? Because they CAN.

Sorry I couldnt refrain from it

Well, I moderate forums whenever I am online, and the reason I decided to say this is the fact that it became TOTALLY off topic, it was rather a different topic that, I thought, was better, and worth enough, to be treated in a different thread. And if you are really interested in discussing THAT topic, not in just discussing OFF topic () you would not mind at all and just continue discussing in the thread meltem has opened. Its true that there isnt a full consistency in how forums are moderated, due to the fact that all people who do are volunteers and therefore not monitoring forums 24/7, or in which topics are moderated how strictly. Currently we are trying to find a way to moderate sensitive topics, of which we think they should not be that sensitive, but of which we also have seen they escalate. Sorry if a little clumsiness comes along with that, but we all do our best.

As a last, I did not intend it as ´Ohh you naughty pupils, you didnt listen to your teacher, now the headmaster came in´. I treated Caliptrix´ suggestion as I would have with any other member who noticed it. I didnt take his comment as a moderating comment anyway.

Well, Caliptrix´s message was not a suggestion.

At least I did not see it as a suggestion.

Some of you should really stop thinking that we are all pupils and need constant warnings.

Because we are not.

  Like you care about any of the warnings that are given to ´you´ anyway.

I dont like warnings. specially from the people who think there is wooden box under their feet and think that wooden box makes that difference to give lectures.

Was I given any warnings btw?

 You should be more specific. And if you have any problems with anyone, you know the famous notification of the existence of a forum to do so, or you can PM that person personally or an admin

As for warnings. I´m sure you have had, but there is no stopping you, is there (and I intend to say that as smt positive)

Well there is stopping me, I´m off to bed! Nighty night.

I would love you to be more specific about the warnings you think i had..

and what do you mean ´they are not stopping you´?

 I don´t feel the need to be specific because Im not talking about any warning specifically, nor am I talking about just these days or something. I mean in general.

And as for ´there´s no stopping you´, with that I meant that you hold on firmly to what you stand for, and even if someone would tell you not to say what you stand for, you would anyway. I think that sentence is generally said to people who are a little stubborn, but I meant the positive way of being stubborn

Oh I really should sleep, but... uykusuz her gece. Bleh.

Since you say ´you you dont need to be specific about them´ and since I say ´I did not have any warnings´ it seems like it is a good idea if you go to sleep..I dont think i am managing to get my message neither I am getting yours.

good night

 You had something specific in mind when you made that sentence, of which it was obvious you were annoyed. I merely teased you, and when you took it serious, I got annoyed as well Yeah it must be that its late.

Ýyi geceler.