Journal of International Society for the History

Arın NAMAL, Arnold REISMAN THEY INTRODUCED MODERN RADIOLOGY IN TURKEY:
REFUGEES FROM NAZISM 1933-1945
The students in the 6th and 8th terms, as well, had to
take a one hour lesson every week in order to learn what
the staff physician (not a radiology specialist) should
know about radiology. 47
This Institute trained specialists to pass an exam
following two years of residency and offered post graduate
education in radiology. Towards this end, yearly course
programs were planned including evening conferences at
the Radiology Association.
While technicians were assigned for the maintenance
and repair of the X-ray equipment and other related
equipment, in the Institute importance was given to the
training of X-ray nurses. 48
Dessauer and collegues decided that Institute operations
had to be carried out in cooperation with the clinics. He
planned treatments in cooperation with the clinic physicians
in accordance with that decision49 and described his activities
at the Institute as follows: “As the Institute was beginning to
be famous, patients from all over the world began to come.
We had established an institute which had no peer in Europe.
Sometimes there were 80 people waiting in the queue for
treatment. All of them had cancer.” 50
Fast forwarding to 1943, in a letter to the Dean on
April 22, Sgalitzer stated that numerous patients had been
directed from clinics to his Institute; but the instruments
and personnel were not suffi cient to treat all of them.
He emphasized his concerns about not being able to
protect the health of Institute personnel. His letter ended
as follows: “It does not seem possible for us to import
the devices required under the present world conditions;
still, the necessary steps should be taken. I think it will
be easier to import the equipment from USA. I have 2
recommendations to reduce our workload:
1. Let us not accept severe cases who cannot benefi t from
radiotherapy. Otherwise, we cannot accept cases who
will benefi t from radiotherapy.
2. We have to be selective also in our radiodiagnostic department.
Please care for our device needs indicated in
the attached list.
The list of needs:
1. Therapy division
a) 2 deep therapy device 250 kW
b) 1 Deep therapy device to apply the rotation radiation
method which has considerable run in
Europe and America.
c) Close radiation device for column cancers
d) 300 mg radium
e) Dosimeters for the mentioned instruments
2. For diagnostics division
a) Spare parts of the x-ray transformer and the
planigraph
b) A second device for radioscopy and one more
instrument for radiography”
Public health radiology
Turkey’s government recognized the need for lung
screening of patients located outside the major metropolitan
areas and in large numbers. Walter Reininger developed
radioscopy device which was easily transportable and was
capable of executing 60 examinations per hour. German
fi rms had developed “portable” x-ray equipment but their
weight amounted 500 kg. Buses containing such capability
were indeed locally manufactured. However, these buses
were both very expensive and required smooth roads. The
Reininger device weigherd only 30 kg. With all ancillary
equipment the total weight reached maximum 176 kg.
Hence, taking the x-ray capability to Turkey’s outlying
areas became became both affordable and feasible costing
one forth of similar devices in Europe. Reininger easily
took the device to Zonguldak, a city on the Black Sea coast,
mounted it in an hour and made it ready for use. While the
other equipment manufactured in Germany for the same
purpose required 10 kW, the Reininger device needed only
400 Watts. The device required dividing the condenser into
very small units, shunted charge, serial connected discharge,
using the x-ray tube as a charge valve and starting the current
in the tube by heating the cathode.
30 JISHIM 2007-2008, 6-7