History

The ERAS concept, which was born in Northern Europe and rapidly gained favour in many countries, including North America, in a very short time, offering innovations to accelerate postoperative recovery, started to turn into an association with the establishment of the ERAS Society in Stockholm in 2012.

Many medical doctors and scientists in Turkey were aware of the benefits provided by ERAS protocols, but they were not willing to implement it. Olle Ljunqvist, who was invited to the 2006 National Surgery Congress, gave a conference on the ERAS concept and attracted the attention of surgeons to the subject. After this, some surgeons and anesthesiologists started to implement it through individual collaborations in Turkey.

The idea of establishing a association in Turkey was first expressed in a conversation with a small number of participants from Turkey during the 3rd ERAS World Congress held in Washington DC on 9 - 12 May 2015. Then, two panels on ERAS were held with the encouragement of Neslihan Alkış, the President of the Association, and the participation was very intense at the Turkish Anaesthesia and Reanimation Congress held in the same year. During this congress, Haldun Gündoğdu, Neslihan Alkış and Zekeriyya Alanoğlu attended the co-operation and communication meeting held at the insistence of the guest speaker Medhat Shalabi. Afterwards, in a conversation attended by Mustafa Aksoy, the necessity of establishing a national association in order to ensure both legal procedures in Turkey and communication in the international arena was expressed.

Haldun Gündoğdu, Neslihan Alkış, Zekeriyya Alanoğlu, Mustafa Aksoy, Abdulkadir But, Kübra Şenyüz, Dilek Aktaş and Çağıl Vural came together on 29.11.2016 and made a division of labour to make preparations for the establishment of national association.

At the end of an intensive preparation process, the writing of the charter of society was completed and an application was made to the Ankara Provincial Directorate of Associations on 23 February 2017. Thus, ERAS Turkey Society was registered in the Associations Registery with the number 06-126-181. The temporary executive board was formed with Haldun Gündoğdu, Neslihan Alkış, Zekerriya Alanoğlu, Mustafa Aksoy and Kübra Şenyüz. With the letter of the Ankara Governorship dated 15 March 2017, it was reported that ERAS Turkey charter was approved.

The first extended board meeting was held on 23 March 2017 and it was decided to convene the Ordinary General Assembly of our Society as soon as possible and to form the official organs. In 2017, a road map was created for what needs to be done.