Students' Diagnosis: Health Center Needs Help
Dear Editor,
Bilkent definitely has the best Health Center among Turkish universities. A lot of services are provided by the Health Center, and Bilkent students can take advantage of most of these services for free. However, some changes could be made so the Health Center will work more efficiently. The biggest complaint about Health Center I hear from people involves the number of doctors available when many people get flu, especially in winter and autumn. There is only one doctor diagnosing patients who have a cold and people's illnesses get worse since it is usually impossible to arrange an appointment.
In my opinion, there should be more than one doctor responsible for patients having such illnesses. Also, there should be at least one doctor available during lunch breaks because sometimes the only suitable time to see a doctor is during the lunch break. Also, people waiting for their appointments should know their exact position in line. This can be done by giving each patient a number. If solutions can be produced for these problems, students will receive faster and better treatment.
(Barış Yılmazsoy CS-III)
Dear Editor,
How are are you feeling these days? I hope you are not getting sick! The Health Center won't have time to help you! There is a big time scheduling problem at the Health Center. The Health Center started an appointment system, but it has not been very effective. As a result, many people complain about the wait. Most Health Center doctors work there part-time.
Sometimes you wait for hours and when it's your turn the doctor comes out, says she has to leave, and advises you to move to another line to see another doctor! And to make matters even worse, the place shuts down between noon and 1:30 p.m.!
But the area that seems to generate the most complaints involves the attitude of the Health Center staff. They tell you that you have no reason to feel sick and that you are exaggerating if you complain about pain. The night staff is particularly bad, telling sick people that it is too late to be ill and advising them to wait until morning for help.
The Health Center at a university like Bilkent should leave people smiling and eliminate their complaints rather than serving as a source of complaints.
(Mercan Karahan CS-II)
Health Center Officials Respond
Editor's note: Health Center officials provided the following response after reviewing Barış' and Mercan's letters to the editor.
According to the quality assurance data of the Health Center, the average wait time per patient is about 25-30 minutes. This gets longer during the flu season. The Center serves about 100 patients per day, student, academic, and administrative personnel included, and these services are provided by two doctors. Under the circumstances, the appointment system works the best. Nonetheless, patients with more severe problems than others are given priority. The Health Center takes care of emergency cases during lunch and after hours, however, the lab, X-rays, and other services that require administrative attendance can not be carried out during those times. The Health Center has a self-review system that allows it to improve its services and it is open to the criticism of others. However, as is the case with the health sector employees, we more often receive negative feedback than positive.
