Prime Minister Erdoğan meets face transplant surgeon

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Özkan is the leader of the team of surgeons that realized the face transplant.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his hope to visit Turkey’s first face transplant patient Uğur Acar “as soon as possible” and thanked doctors for their successful surgery.

Professor Dr. Ömer Özkan, who led the team of surgeons during the transplant, met with Erdoğan in Ankara yesterday over lunch at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters.
Özkan thanked Erdoğan, attributing the transplant’s success to the prime minister’s support for the health sector.

During the luncheon Erdoğan mainly asked questions regarding the transplant surgery and reassured the doctor the ruling party would continue their moral and material support.

A date has yet to be set for Erdoğan’s visit, Özkan told the Hürriyet Daily News, adding that the prime minister’s support was “encouraging.”

Acar is now able to walk around his hospital room but has yet to see his face, Özlenen Özkan, wife of Ömer Özkan who also particapted in the surgery, said yesterday.

She added that the swelling from the surgery had begun to decrease and a professional will be brought in to shave him in a sterile environment before he meets with the press in the next three to four days.
Acar, 19, lost his face when he suffered severe burns in a house fire when he was a baby. The transplant took place Jan. 21.