Heartbeat donates equipment to children’s oncology department
HEARTBEAT-North Cyprus Cancer Charity Trust has presented 10 infusion pumps to the Children’s Oncology Ward at Lefkosa Dr Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital.
The handover took place on December 27 in the presence of Health Minister İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra, the hospital’s deputy head doctor Hasan Birtan, and medical staff on the ward.
Medical devices donated by Bio-Ram Biomedikal Solutions Ltd, which works in cooperation with Heartbeat, were also presented.
Heartbeat chairman İsmail Özdil Atahasan said the charity’s committee decided to make the presentation before the New Year because of the “urgent need for the equipment even though there is an ongoing funding drive which will end symbolically on February 14, Valentine’s Day”.
He said it was “also very important to the charity that the Health Minister was there, as well as the hospital administration”, with the event being covered by TRNC state broadcaster BRT in its lunchtime news bulletin.
“Although Heartbeat is well known in the expat community, the general public is not so aware of it going into its 35th year in 2023,” Mr Atahasan said. “The [broadcast] media coverage was very important to us.”
Mrs Altuğra, who offered her thanks for the donation, spoke of the importance of the support provided by non-governmental organisations, associations and philanthropists, describing their donations as being of “vital importance”.
Dr Birtan, who also thanked Heartbeat for the donation, said that cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases.
Donations made by charities such as Heartbeat have made a “significant contribution to the fight against these diseases”, he added.
Five days prior to the event, Heartbeat received a donation of 22,500TL, which was used to help purchase the equipment donated to the Children’s Oncology Ward.
Mr Atahasan gave a “huge thank you to everyone at Grease Monkey” pub in Çatalköy, where the money was raised at weekly quiz nights organised by Graham and Barbara Fursman, who he also thanked for helping to raise “this fabulous amount”.