Türkiye’s leading vet faculty unveils animal hospital

ISTANBUL

Istanbul University’s Veterinary Medicine Faculty has inaugurated a cutting-edge animal hospital capable of delivering medical care across a vast array of species, marking a significant milestone in Türkiye's veterinary advancements.

Spanning 8,000 square meters within the Avcılar campus, the facility is engineered to manage an annual caseload of approximately 60,000 patients, comprising 50,000 domestic animals and 10,000 exotic and wild species, according to a report by daily Hürriyet.

The hospital, which features Türkiye's first fully equipped intensive care unit and a pioneering auditory testing center for animals, is equipped to perform over 6,000 surgical and gynecological procedures.

It also serves as a vanguard for an envisioned 60,000-square-meter animal hospital set to be constructed on the same campus, further cementing its role as a cornerstone in the nation's veterinary infrastructure.

"We meticulously adhere to internationally acclaimed methodologies in animal healthcare, which has enabled us to pioneer novel facilities within this institution," remarked Professor Dr. Hasan Alpak, the dean of the faculty.

The hospital, designed to cater to the needs of all animal species, includes inpatient wards that provide significant contributions to the comprehensive training of veterinary students.

“In addition to our 80-strong academic staff, we deliver healing services to animals with a total workforce of 730, operating round the clock, seven days a week,” Alpak added.

Speaking to the daily, fifth-year veterinary student Sena Nur Çetinkurt underscored the transformative impact of the rigorous training provided at the facility, highlighting 16-hour rotations that immerse students in every conceivable scenario their future profession may entail.

This initiative came at the end of a year dominated by fervent national discourse over a law on stray dogs.

This law, which mandates the relocation of stray dogs to shelters through street collection and permits the euthanasia of terminally ill animals, has provoked widespread public backlash. Critics have decried the insufficient capacity and poor conditions of existing shelters, alongside the glaring inadequacies in veterinary care infrastructure.

The regulation was initially prompted by incidents in certain provinces where attacks by stray dogs — estimated to number 4 million nationwide, resulted in fatalities, severe injuries and limb amputations.

However, following the law’s enactment, reports of mass animal killings in some provinces sparked public outrage, with animal rights advocates asserting that the legislation implicitly fostered such actions.