Earthquakes are a painful reality for our country, and in recent days we have once again experienced profound suffering and hardship arising from that reality. Assessments conducted in 2019 determined that the buildings of Istanbul University–Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Veterinary Medicine were damaged, and the Faculty was divided between two distant campuses. We find it deeply concerning that the demolished Faculty buildings have still not been rebuilt.
The Faculty Hospital continued to provide education and clinical services in damaged buildings on the Avcılar campus until 26 February 2023. The distance between campuses and the pandemic had already adversely affected the quality of education in this vital profession. We therefore do not consider it acceptable to close Istanbul’s only veterinary faculty hospital without providing an alternative campus solution.
We support the legitimate requests of the students of one of our country’s long-established faculties, who are preparing to enter a profession with major responsibilities for public health, and we publicly affirm our solidarity with them.
As TSAVA, we stand ready to contribute to solutions developed by the competent authorities in order to ensure the sustainable delivery of high-quality education and training, together with the hospital services that are an essential part of veterinary education.