Turkish doctor survived from virus, share experience in tears

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - SEPTEMBER 27: As the invisible enemy coronavirus grips Turkey, the country entrusts its safety to a different army: health care workers. The healthcare staff, working in coronavirus intensive care service of the Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital fight relentlessly against COVID-19 epidemic. They are on the front line and have to remain so as the sole warriors against the deadly disease. AAVN videoed the struggle of the staff who work devotedly in the intensive care unit at the hospital on Sunday (September 27) in Istanbul. Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Necati Akyilmaz, shared his coronavirus experience in tears. “When this pandemic process started to unfold in our country, I sent my children and my mother to my hometown, Tarsus. By the way, my son is 9 years old and my daughter is five.” Akyilmaz noted that his wife, also a doctor and working in emergency medical service, “We were separated from our children for about 3,5 months We communicated with them by video chat during this process.” During separation from his family, Akyilmaz learnt on March 22 that he was caught by the disease and got treatment until 28 March. He was discharged after symptoms regressed. While he is talking about his children, Akyilmaz broke down and cried “I guess we could say they were worried about me,” he said. On Monday Turkey reported 1,412 more COVID-19 cases, as well as 1,422 recoveries over the past 24 hours. Overall infections now stand at 315,845, including 277,052 recoveries. "Today, the number of daily recovered patients is higher than the number of new patients for the first time in a long while," Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter. The death toll from the pandemic in Turkey rose to 8,062, with 65 more fatalities reported since Sunday. (Footage by Muharrem Cin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)