ISTANBUL-- A state hospital in Turkey's biggest city of Istanbul opened a new center on Tuesday to track the health conditions of the recovered COVID-19 patients.
The medical center at the Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine will examine whether the coronavirus causes any damage to organs after patients are healed.
Tufan Tukek, dean of the faculty, said researches revealed that the virus could damage not only the lungs but also other organs.
"Now we see that it can catch heart, kidneys, and other organs with vascular structure," Tukek told reporters at the center.
"In the long term, it can cause some blood-related problems as well," he continued.
The center will also investigate for one year whether people who have had the coronavirus will be immune to it, according to Tukek.
Speaking at a separate televised interview with the NTV broadcaster, the dean said that so far, the hospital has reported 6,500 recovered COVID-19 patients, with 1,500 of them badly affected by the virus.
Tukek said that the priority would be given to those who recovered after being in critical condition.
Yunus Emre Bayrak, a doctor who has recently recovered from the virus, was among the first patients of the center.
"I think the fact that physicians at the center dealing with COVID-19 patients will increase their experiences," Bayrak said to reporters.
Aysegul Bilici Secmeler, another medical worker who recently recovered from the virus, is now a chief nurse of the center.
She said that a concern remains in the mind of each healed patient, wondering whether they would have a health problem in the future.
"In that sense, as the center will continuously trace COVID-19 patients, it would be able to identify the possible complications in time," Secmeler noted.
