Turkey: Lebanese patient walks after 9 years

ANKARA

A Lebanese patient was able to walk again after being bedridden for nine years thanks to a 9-month long treatment regime at a Turkish hospital.

Fouad Jamal El Dine, 34, was in an industrial accident in Lebanon that placed him in a vegetative state where he lost his ability to walk.

Since February, he has been receiving therapy at the Romatem Bursa Hospital in northwestern Turkey where he regained his ability to walk.

He received treatment in several countries, including in Lebanon and the US, but those therapies failed to give him the dexterity needed to stand. Following rehabilitation programs applied in Turkey, he is now able to sit and stand up.

Dine was able to regain his balance with C-Mill -- a medical device that increases actual therapy that was brought from Sweden -- during his fifth session and managed to walk.

"We have made really good progress. Robotic technology and exercises were very important in the success of the treatment," Nurten Kucukcayir, rehabilitation specialist and head physician at the hospital told Anadolu Agency.

The C-Mill technology allowed doctors to notice disturbances in balance and prepare a special balance and walking program for Dine, she said.

"We are now in the fifth session. With each session we do with C-Mill, walking balance gets better. Currently, our patient can walk without any support," she said.

She added that doctors have treated foreign patients as part of Turkey’s health tourism at the hospital.