Turkey trained medic aims to open clinic in Gambia

A Turkey trained Gambian doctor wants to open a clinic in his home country.

Muhammed Jaiteh, who arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara 12 years ago to study medicine, has been working at the Hacettepe University Medical Faculty Hospital for the last three years.

Jaiteh told Anadolu Agency that he came to Turkey on a scholarship from Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), the biggest scholarship provider to foreign students in the country.

He graduated in 2013 and two years later he began working at the internal medicine department as a research assistant.

According to Jaiteh, it is not easy to get medical training in a foreign country but added that after learning Turkish, he overcame all the obstacles.

Not many African doctors practise in Turkey, and often in the first meeting patients are surprised, he said.

"When they see that you can speak Turkish with them, they are relaxed," he added.

Jaiteh is planning to return to the Gambia after completing his doctorate in Turkey.

"As an internal disease expert my staying in Turkey would not change much. If I leave, many experts like me can be found. This is not the case in Gambia, where there are very few experts. I can change many things there.

"I plan to return to the Gambia in the future. My aim is to open a clinic there," he said, adding Gambian health industry still developing.

Jaiteh is the only African doctor in Hacettepe University Medical Faculty Hospital.

He said that when he first came to Turkey they were five students from the Gambia but now there are around 200 students.