Ministry registers museum inside state hospital

BURSA

The Culture and Tourism Ministry has registered a museum at the entrance of a state hospital in the İnegöl distrcit of the northwestern province of Bursa, opening it to patients who would like to see old hospital equipment and ambulances.

“The museum was opened four years ago, in 2016, on the 100th anniversary of the hospital’s establishment. This year the ministry registered it as a ‘private museum.’ Now it is under the ministry’s control and protection,” Hayrettin Göçmen, the hospital’s head physician, told state-run Anadolu Agency on Dec. 29.

According to the official, people who come to the hospital can tour the museum and time travel amid old ambulances and historic documents about health services.

“We looked at the media archives and we learnt that some İnegöl locals living in Germany donated an ambulance to our hospital decades ago. We pursued the ambulance and found it in a storage. The owner donated it without expecting anything back.”

Göçmen said that they went deeper into the research and found that there were eight more historic ambulances, bringing them to the museum.

“The museum has two more parts. One is about the history of the health services in İnegöl. We even have documents from 1845. Also, people learning about the existence of the museum are donating all valuable documents they keep in their houses,” the official stressed.

There is also a special collection for children, with toy ambulances being exhibited for them.

According to the records, 1.5 million people visit the hospital annually.

“So around 1 million visited the museum in a year. If I say this, I guess, I would not be exaggerating.”