The Super Mega XXXXXL Hospital

We woke up long before the birds, in the twilight zone, unsure if it’s night or day or even if we were awake. I slipped on one of my Atatürk tshirts for comfort, safety and respect. It’s like my Batman or Peter Parker outfit, don’t ask, I’ve no idea why, I’m becoming more and more Turkish, it just is.

I had an appointment at a new hospital, our usual one had centralised services. We thought it would be a routine check-up, far from it as I was later to discover.

We got on the bus in a semi unconscious state and got stung straight away. My wife handed the money over. “And what about you husband?” You guessed it, it had doubled. The long long journey hugged the coastline and trees, the latter is such a wonder here, so many varieties. Despite it all I felt lucky.

We got dropped off at what appeared to be a bombsite. “You get the bus to the hospital from there.” “Are you sure this is a bus stop?” I sheepishly said to my wife. “Yes,” pointing to the sign, starting to get angry. She began to take pictures. It’s not that nice I thought. “I’m going to complain to the council”. When the bus arrived 7000 people squeezed into a bus made for 10, higher and higher we climbed leaving humanity behind us, an old lady noticed my t shirt “Ahh my Atatürk” she said, as if mourning for something deeper.  

Over the horizon we saw a modern-day Lord of the Rings, dwarfing the landscape. We had arrived just in time but we hadn’t. The bus almost grinded to a halt as we snaked around the complex, eventually one hour late for our appointment, we reached our stop. We walked inside and quickly became nothing; this was a soulless shopping mall with no shops. I noticed for the first time in a government building there were no pictures of Atatürk or no pictures at all for that matter. You felt small and stripped of your personality or country, this could be anywhere. Seating was minimal and outside none, if there had been a cluster of them a revolution would have happened. Turkish people are communal here, you were just one. We passed some area with high columns like an Egyptian or Roman temple disappearing into the sky. A notice said this was for “Health Tourists,” your own personal doctor, service, surgeon etc. We both felt it, my wife voiced it. “Who is this hospital for?” We both went quiet and moved across the vast temple of the foreigner. I found out that the signs were in English, we all know why. We waited and interacted with people and the staff, we still managed to create our friendly Turkey here, the staff doctors etc. were wonderful. They examined my eyes over and over again, I had a tear on one and they carried out laser surgery there and then. I was most grateful.

We left perplexed and relieved. How many people needing care could actually get here let alone afford it? There are pros and cons to these mega services.

I couldn’t help feeling what would he on my tshirt think, I will leave that up to you.