In loving memory of my grandfather, Dr. Abdülkadir Göksel…
It was the early years of The Republic of Turkey. Ataturk’s Revolution of Letters was not made yet when my grandfather Abdulkadir Goksel graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine in 1928 and received his diploma which was written in Arabic letters. There was a huge need of doctors who are willing to work all around the country to cure people. So he came back to his hometown of Gaziantep with a vast knowledge and experience of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology in addition to his specialty on Internal Medicine. The first X-Ray machine was brought to Gaziantep with him right after he took his Radiology Certificate. For many years, he had served his patients at the State Hospital and American Hospital both as the chief physician.
There is nobody who lived in Gaziantep the years between 1940 and 1980 but have not met him or was examined by him yet. Because of the fact that Gaziantep was the one and only developed city center in the area, so many patients were coming to receive health care from the surrounding cities and villages. In the first years of his career in Gaziantep, my grandfather was fighting with the Trachoma epidemic all day and night in order to stop people losing their eyes as the only eye specialist in the region.
I have clear memories of him from my childhood. I remember him as an authoritarian and serious person. His microscope on the table which he used to diagnose his patients and his unique laboratory, comes alive in front of my eyes…There were no advance technology back then. Despite of the lack of technology he was so successful with his diagnoses and treatments, it is hardly surprising his fame went across the region.
My grandfather’s reputation and success have always been something impossible to accomplish, but a source of power to me. As a 3rd generation doctor in my family after my dad Dr. Sermet Goksel, I’ve gained a lot from my grandfather and my father more than any medical training could provide. They taught me how important it is to build an honest and sincere doctor-patient relationship as well as to have my professional point of view “money always comes second”. I cannot thank them enough for helping me discover my own doctor identity.
In loving memory of my grandfather who I was named after…
