This Week's Changemaker; Ayhan Tokgöz Offers Health Services to Communities in Need

On 20 December 2009 Sabancı Foundation's "Turkey's Changemakers" program hosts Dr. Ayhan Tokgöz who has been working since 1986 in order to offer health services to communities in need.

In the hospital he founded in İzmit, patients can get dental treatment and a full-body check-up for a fee as low as 50 Turkish cents (approximately 30 cents the US). Patients can also take complimentary literacy courses in the hospital. Moreover, doctors go from door to door in their communities and identify those in need in order to provide them with free medicine.

Dr. Ayhan Tokgöz operates another clinic in İstanbul that charges higher fees to people who can afford it. Those funds are then used to serve less fortunate people, thus giving him the nickname, "Modern Robin Hood."

Dr. Tokgöz also tries to create an environmental impact, as they collect recyclable solid waste from schools and workplaces in İstanbul in order to protect the environment and to create funds for their services at the same time. Until today, 250 tons of solid waste were collected, and thereby, 420 thousand patients were provided with health services. 140 thousand of these patients received complimentary treatment.