My esteemed colleagues,
The “Resuscitation Committee” founded under the auspices of the Turkish Society of Anesthesiology and Reanimation (TARD) in 1996 began cooperation with the “European Resuscitation Council (ERC)” in 1998. From the day of foundation to the present, the board of management of the Turkish Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care have attached great importance to the Resuscitation Committee and our membership of the ERC and provided all types of material and moral support. I offer my undying gratitude to all my colleagues who served on the board of management of TARD during this process.
During the 6th Scientific Congress of the European Resuscitation council held in Florence, Italy from 3-5 October 2002, very important developments occurred as a result of our interviews with ERC upper level administrators.
The ERC only deal with one organization in each country and to date they report accepting the “Turkish Resuscitation Committee” working linked to the Turkish Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care as their only interlocutor in Turkey. For this situation to gain permanency and to ensure more advance level of cooperation with the ERC, they recommended the Resuscitation Committee transform into a multidisciplinary and independent ‘Resuscitation Council’. After providing these changes, they stated it will be possible to use all opportunities offered by the ERC.
Later, information about the recommendation of the ERC to found a new society was presented by us to the Board of Management of the Turkish Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care and these recommendations by the ERC were positively met by the board. At this point, work began to found the ‘Resuscitation Council’.
The foundation documents of the RESUSCITATION COUNCIL were recorded in İzmir Police Department Security Branch with registry number 35.040.057 and our society became a ‘legal entity’ on 10.06.2003.
The ‘Resuscitation Council’ has a multidisciplinary structure. According to the statutes of our society, medical doctors and legal entities can apply in writing to be a candidate for membership with references from two full members of the Resuscitation Council. This application is decided at the first meeting of the board of management and the result is reported to the applicant in writing. Acceptance of candidates to membership is completed by secret vote at the board of management meeting. Here those receiving majority votes are accepted for membership.
On 15 September 2004, an agreement was signed between the “European Resuscitation Council” and the “Resuscitation Council”.
In abiding by this agreement the Resuscitation Society can use all CPR guidelines and other printed scientific material accepted by the ERC in the international scientific environment, will ensure the publication of these in Turkey and will create ERC model courses based on ‘Adult and Pediatric Basic Life Support, Automatic External Defibrillation, Adult and Pediatric Advanced Life Support and Newborn Resuscitation”. Thus, Resuscitation Training will be possible with international standards. I hope this work will be very beneficial for the Turkish health community.
Prof.Dr.Agâh ÇERTUĞ
Resuscitation Council Honorary President
Ege Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi
Anesteziyoloji ve Reanimasyon Anabilim Dalı
35100 Bornova / İZMİR
Tel : ( 232) 390 38 75
Fax : ( 232) 339 76 87
E-mail :