We are discussing pediatric orthopedics with Mahir Kabalak...

Murat Mahir Kabalak: Yes, hello dear listeners.

We are talking again, welcome to the program. Today...

I am with my teacher Mehmetli, Ali Fuat Karataş Fuat.

I am with my teacher Karadaş. He is an orthopedics and traumatology specialist.

By the way, he is a professor and a doctor. I should have mentioned that at the beginning.

How are you, Professor?

Ali Fuat Karataş: Thank you, welcome. Thank you.

As you can see, we work with children.

Our field is child-focused.

I am an orthopedics and traumatology specialist, but I also specialize in pediatric orthopedics...

I did my residency abroad.

Therefore, we focus on children and orthopedic problems...

We follow them closely.

Murat Mahir Kabalak: Here, of course, I am a little...

I also want to ask a more specific question. Also...

We hear it from you, but...

Some of our listeners may know, some may not. You are an orthopedic specialist, but you are also more specialized in children...

You are not, we will understand that, right, professor?

Ali Fuat Karataş: Exactly. Our current education model in Turkey, when we train assistants and...

The basic education we provide at the university...

Our foundation, our basic education program, so to speak.

Trauma, adult orthopedics...

Joint surgery and...

Again, general trauma in children.

And of course, there are...

Things, sub-branches. Orthopedics is actually a very broad field.

So children are completely different all over the world...

It's moving in that direction and has to be that way.

Orthopedics also wanted to fill this gap, so starting in 2010...

As an active member, founding member, and board member of the Pediatric Orthopedics Association...

We decided to focus more on this and...

Specialize in this field, in this subfield...

To become a little more specialized...

With the great contributions of our predecessors...

We received training abroad, which originated in...

The United States.

Especially in orthopedics and pediatric orthopedics, there are truly...

We had the opportunity to work with some very important names.

They also love Turks.

The orthopedics community in the United States really has...

An incredible relationship and...

Influence and friendship.

Murat Mahir Kabalak: This is also a very protective time.

Ali Fuat Karataş: It's a lot of things, so we go ahead like this.

We compete with each other, there is such a sweet competition.

We get good results.

They are always curious.

What are you doing? Are you doing anything extra?

We are curious. What are you doing?

Of course, there are certain technological and financial advantages abroad, but...

We are also working with dedication.

That's why we spent about 1.5-2 years...

We gained experience abroad. In orthopedics...

What is pediatric orthopedics? We actually took this as our foundation.

After that...

After returning, we became associate professors and professors at our university.

We advanced academically, published scientific papers, and...

We shared what we saw and learned with our assistants.

Of course, Turkey has a certain structure, Turkey...

The birth rate is really high.

So, if 80,000 children are born in Europe, in the Netherlands...

1.5 million children are born in Turkey every year.

And even though many figures are missing, such as those related to immigrants and refugees, 200,000-250,000 of them have orthopedic problems.

Even if they are minor...

Whether it's hearing-related, severe, or chronic issues. That's hundreds of thousands of children.

And you keep going. You start with a child for four years, even for the simplest illness.

You start with a child for 15 years.

So you raise the child together with the family.

Because every year you have a new patient, every year a new anatomy, every year a new person, a child is like that.

Of course, in the orthopedic community, pediatric orthopedics...

It's such a challenging job.

You have to form an emotional bond.

We, who love this work, are not very busy.

It's like this all over the world. So, both...

It's a field where you really have to be present, both materially and spiritually.

It's a very rewarding field.

If you do everything right, we work hard for it, and we are very happy.

That's the situation. We work with thousands of children on various treatments.

We bring the treatments we see abroad here.

We develop those treatments with the children here.

That's our advantage. The families are very dependent

We fully support each other and keep a close eye on things.

Murat Mahir Kabalak: You are becoming a family now.

Ali Fuat Karataş: Yes, we have something like that, of course.

It stems from the structure of our country...

It's incredible to be in constant communication with such a family.

We intervene at the slightest problem.

They consult you about everything and trust you.

We are happy at this stage. So we continue in this way.

Murat Mahir Kabalak: Yes, sir.

I would like to interrupt you and say something.

My dear listeners, especially here...

I had the opportunity to see my teacher's 1-2 examinations.

Really, in their 3rd and 4th years...

I had the opportunity to listen to, see, and observe a few cases and different perspectives.

What my teacher said about being happy, talking about his own self-sacrifice, which we listened to without interruption a few minutes ago...

His beautiful explanation really showed that this job is not so easy.

With the families who come, the old follow-ups of the cases, in front of an open computer, past records, new work done...

So, the inward-turned leg, what is the situation now, again in a month, again in three months...

Really, this is a place where children and their families come often, to bring it to life on your face...

I wanted to share this, based on my own experiences.

Even when we only stay here for a few minutes, we can see how dedicated our teacher is, and that internal motivation pays off here.

If there’s anything else you’d like to add, teacher, should we continue?

Ali Fuat Karataş: I can define pediatric orthopedics. Pediatric orthopedics is actually a specialization within orthopedics itself...

All over the world, upper extremity, lower extremity, shoulder, arm, hip, and joint surgery are already specialized fields.

Pediatric orthopedics is a completely different field.

Because, as I said, you are treating a growing organism, a constantly changing organism, you are dealing with a living being.

You are shaping it as you grow it.

That is the meaning of orthopedics; that is, shaping as it grows, trying to shape it correctly.

There may be a missing limb, a short leg, or a hip that is not in the right place.

You correct it in some way through follow-up, and then you ensure that it goes in the right direction with very good control.

This is the basic thing in pediatric orthopedics.

Foot problems are very common.

There is clubfoot, congenital clubfoot, Pes Eküne Varus.

Now, there is a Pes Eküne Varus group, and these families support each other.

Such families form groups.

They support each other incredibly.

Because the mother holds the baby in her arms, and there is an orthotic device on the foot.

Can you imagine that situation? You say, “Calm down, we'll fix this.”

We're in this together. On one side, there's this... or some people detect it in the womb.

The obstetrician sees it on the ultrasound. She calls immediately. “I'm going to give birth in two weeks, what should I do?” We say, “Let's make a plan.”

We say, “Look, once the baby is born, we'll do this, we'll act like this. We'll meet on the 3rd or 4th day.”

Then we'll raise the baby together, we'll run around here together.

Murat Mahir Kabalak: Super, amazing. Everyone says it's relaxing. It's a wonderful thing, professor.

So, of course, until everyone relaxes, there's the mother's trauma. Now, you're together right after the birth.

Really, here... So, of course, many people have the opportunity to observe our teacher here. But it won't be from here.

Of course, from here, from Ankara, from Turkey, from all over the world, greetings to everyone who understands Turkish and listens to us.

Our expatriates from Turkey, Denmark, and the Netherlands are listening to us on Spotify. They are listening on Encore.

Again, if you listen on the Amplars Doctor channel, you can listen on my YouTube channel there. Again, you can find our teacher, Adif Atkar Ataş, by searching on Instagram.

In that sense, your questions... Professor, how can they send their questions? Should they send them via Instagram DM? Should we share your phone number here?

Ali Fuat Karataş: Yes, we have a clinic number: 545-251-5101. 545-251-5101. My assistants are available 24/7.

Because we have patients we are following up with. In case of any issues, we can intervene.

They try to answer as much as possible in their field. They consult me. I direct them.

Therefore, this line is always open. Online, we have entered Ali Fuat Karataş Atkar Ataş, Ali Fuat Karataşf Atkar Ataş website.

They can also send messages via WhatsApp from there. It's linked to our website.

They can also write on Instagram. We try to respond as quickly as possible on all platforms.

Because these are people's children. We have children too. We are trying to solve something related to their children.

It's the most important thing in the world for them. It's the same for all of us. We need to give them an answer somehow.