Istanbul’s major medicine faculty buildings to be renovated

ISTANBUL – Radikal

The buildings of Cerrahpaşa and Çapa Medicine Faculties will be renovated in their current place in the Fatih district, according to the Istanbul University Rector Yunus Söylet. Hürriyet Photo

The buildings belonging to Istanbul’s two major medicine faculties Cerrahpaşa and Çapa will be renovated in their current location by way of a five-year long project costing $1billion.

The buildings of Cerrahpaşa and Çapa Medicine Faculties will not be moved outside of the city center, unlike the first plans, but will instead be renovated in their current place in the Fatih district, according to the Istanbul University Rector Yunus Söylet.

The buildings are not resistant to earthquakes and were damaged during the Aug. 17, 1999 earthquake.

“The prime minister personally examined the project and approved it. The prime minister liked the project,” said Söylet.

Söylet said the Cerrahpaşa and Istanbul Çapa Medicine Faculties will not be only hospitals but will turn into health campuses where the medicine faculty students can have an easier access to education.

The land near Istanbul’s Küçükçekmece Lake belonging to the Istanbul University will be used as a source of income for the five-year long renovation project. Istanbul University is holding meetings with the Environment and Urbanization Ministry over this plan.

Six historical buildings of Cerrahpaşa Medicine Faculty and eight historical buildings of Istanbul Çapa Medicine Faculty will be renovated, according to Istanbul University Hospitals General Director Dr. Haluk Özsarı.

“We are planning to build earthquake-resistant education and health centers with minimum costs. The indoor space will increase from 477,070 square meters to 1.6 million square meters, said Özsarı adding that there would not be any vehicles except ambulances and fire engines inside the campus thanks to an underground parking lot in the new project.

The university hospitals will also be recycling their medical wastes, which are approximately 1.6 million tons in a year. The university is spending 849,000 Turkish Liras annually on the destruction of its waste.