With the statement made by Girne American University’s Health Investment Coordinator, Günhan Nalbantoğlu, the opening of the dental clinic and investment for the hospital, the 2014-2015 Academic Year of GAU is declared the “health year” and the investments are being provided with speed in this direction.

Günhan Nalbantoğlu emphasized that the dental clinic will provide service during March and April in Kyrenia and also said that, “All legal procedures are complete and construction has begun, i would like to thank everybody for all their efforts. As the GAU family we would like to respond to one of the most important fields of our country, health and close this gap.”

Nalbantoğlu said, by signing a protocol with Florence Nightingale they would be able to provide the most improved service in the health field worldwide and then went on to say “As we know the needs of our nation we are going to higher the level of the health service in the country by investing in a dental clinic and a hospital which will benefit both the public and health tourism.”

“GAU Dental Clinic” will be providing service in April

Announcing the good news that the dental clinic will be launched in April 2015 and the hospital towards the end of 2016, Günhan Nalbantoğlu said, “One would wish that, with the protocol signed with Florence Nightingale we could have completed the hospital earlier than 6 months. However with the bureaucratic obstacles this date is further away. In fact the opening of the hospital is going to be delayed by a year and a half.”

“We are not the source of the delay”

Nalbantoğlu drew attention to the fact that obstacles linked to the procedures such as income and the contribution to the country’s tourism is a huge loss of time. He also said, “Our aim is to attract the attention of the relevant ministries interested in the subject and open the way of the people whom are investing in the country. Of course there will be procedures and bureaucracy, however all the services with investment should have been prioritized.

 “In 1.5/2 months we will be open for patients at the dental clinic”

Explaining that, in the name of “GAU Dental Clinic”, the service provided at the dental clinic will be at professional levels including, surgical interventions, root canal treatment, gum disease, child dental care, dentures and dental health departments, Nalbantoğlu informed that:

 “Our clinic will be in service with the latest technology that has an appropriate digital structure.

*This clinic will be a reference clinic for our country. We plan to share this situation with the dental physicians in our country and meet their expectations by closing the gap in the health industry. There are many dental physicians in the TRNC however, for some reason we know that our citizens fly abroad for treatment. Having all this within our sights we are making our way. Our greatest aim is to create alternatives for our people by creating a staff that works together in private clinics.

“Patient satisfaction will be out priority”

Nalbantoğlu states that patients being treated at GAU’s Dental Clinic, will have the latest technology and he gives advanced information about the materials used. “This way our patients will be relaxed with the procedures that are going to take place and satisfaction will always be at the forefront. For example when an “implant” is going to take place with the support of a 3D tomography and a computer the necessary information will be provided to the patient along with all the technical procedures.”

“The health tourism is in high demand around the world”

Nalbantoğlu said, “As a country we have the potential, only if the doctors and physicians in our country work together, our country’s health field will catch up to the success we have in education.”

He completed his speech by stating, “The many successful countries in tourism are leaning towards the health industry due to the economic income. A normal tourist’s revenue to the country is around 1000-2000 dollars, whereas a tourist with a health purpose may bring up to 8000-10,000 dollars of income. Due to this, health tourism will provide more income and have a stronger impact on the country’s economic status. Most importantly our hospitals do not have the infrastructure for patients with disabilities. In order to close this gap we are creating a clinic with this infrastructure for our citizens with disabilities.