Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 230-233. (Budapest, 2015)
ADATTÁR - Debrődi Gábor: Mentőállomás Konstantinápolyban
AMBULANCE STATION IN CONSTANTINOPLE GÁBOR DEBRŐDI One hundred years ago Count Jenő Karátsonyi (1861-1933), president of the Budapest Voluntary Ambulance Service (BVAS) suggested to the Turkish Embassy in Budapest the idea that the Hungarian ambulance service could found an ambulance station in Constantinople. At that time, there was no ambulance station in that city of one and half million inhabitants. János Pallavicini (1848-1941) ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, started the discussions with his Turkish colleagues. After getting a positive response, the BVAS sent a message to Constantinople and made contacts with Pasha Ödön Széchenyi (1839-1922), who had created the first professional fire station in Constantinople forty years earlier, in 1874. Ödön Széchenyi was originally bom in Pozsony, Hungary (present-day Bratislava, capital of Slovakia). His father, Count István Széchenyi (1791-1860), who had been called ‘The greatest Hungarian’ was a determined reform politician and public life leader in the Hungarian reform age. His son, Pasha Széchenyi, also had a genius sense for invention and organizing. In his homeland, he invented many technical, social and financial things, but perhaps the greatest of all his creations was the voluntary and the professional fire department created in Pest (the Hungarian capital city), 1870. He was honored and loved in Hungary and Europe, but his reputation was mainly known in Europe. Because of them the great inventor got a special award, the ‘French honor order’ from the French emperor, Napoleon III (1852-1870) in 1867. After he saw the fire disaster in Constantinople (1870), he decided to help Turkey organize a professional fire department, similar to the one in Pest. The sultan, Abdülaziz I (1861-1876), respected Széchenyi due to his early works and achievements throughout Europe, so he entrusted him with organizing the project. Széchenyi moved to Constantinople in 1874. The new fire department was founded (1874) and commanded by him, as a part of the local military service. He was deeply revered in Turkey, so he was given the greatest state award, the Ozmanje-order from Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909) in 1899. After the BVAS had received permission for helping to organize the ambulance station, it sent its ambulance officers, led by ambulance doctor Dr. Richárd Fiala, to Constantinople in May 1911. Some days later, BVAS President Jenő Karátsonyi and Medical Director Dr. Aladár Kovách (1866-1922) followed them. Dr. Kovách was the immediate successor of Dr. Géza Kresz (1846-1901), founder of BVAS, the first modem ambulance organization in Hungary, established in 1887. Under Director Dr. Kovách’s leadership, several new treatments, research, drugs, and vehicles were introduced for the first time in Hungary. These were continued in those times in the Europe. The Hungarian management was open-handed; thus, the new station was given a fully equipped ambulance horse-coach, ten stretchers, two Chirurgie bags, one toxicology bag, and a special bag for burned patients. Furthermore, various transportation equipments were provided as well. The training went on for several weeks, during which Turkish doctors and firemen in the Taxim military barrack received instructions all day. Before the opening ceremony, Dr. Kovách conducted several rescue trainings with his Turkish colleagues to make sure they receive the necessary experience. He considered it
