As Umit Sezginer, Chief Doctor of the Refugee Health Training Centre in Izmir, will tell you, being a doctor requires effective communication: “The job was not easy in the beginning,” he explains. Turkish health-care workers could not communicate easily with Syrian patients and interpretation was doubling the time required for consultations. “This can become tiring for both the doctor and the patient, and more importantly, it can lead to miscommunication during medical examinations.”

This scenario changed with the introduction of a programme that trains Syrian health professionals to work in the Turkish health system, alongside Turkish colleagues, delivering quality health-care services that overcome both language and cultural barriers. With funding from the European Union under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, this allows Syrian health professionals trained by the World Health Organization (WHO) in support of the Ministry of Health to serve in the Turkish health system and provide health services in Arabic to their fellow nationals. Upon completion of their theoretical and practical training, these professionals are hired by the Ministry of Health in several health centres across the country.

Story by WHO

http://www.euro.who.int/en/countries/turkey/news/news/2019/6/turkish-and-syrian-health-workers-stand-together-to-deliver-health-services-for-refugees