Turkey airlifted a Turkish Dutch citizen late Wednesday after his family claimed he had been left for dead by a Dutch hospital where he was hospitalized for COVID-19. The family had sought help from his native country after Dutch doctors told them he would be unplugged from the life support unit.
Selahattin Kandaz was taken to OLVG Oost Hospital in Amsterdam on Jan. 15 after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus. He was taken to the intensive care unit when his condition worsened. According to his family, doctors decided to turn off the life support unit for Kandaz, “who was not responding to treatment.” His daughter Müberra Kandaz had contacted Turkish officials for her father’s treatment. The Health Ministry decided to send an air ambulance to bring Kandaz to Turkey. The air ambulance picked him from Schiphol Airport and brought him to the capital Ankara where he will be treated at a Turkish hospital.
“We still cannot believe it. My father was able to talk and was even making jokes when he was first hospitalized. But three weeks later, doctors told us they would ‘conclude’ treatment (this Friday). They said my father was not responding well to the treatment. We opposed it and decided to seek treatment elsewhere. We talked to Turkish officials and filed a petition for his transfer to Turkey,” Müberra Kandaz told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Wednesday.
