Founded by Admiral Mark L. Bristol, the American Hospital was established in 1920 as the first non-profit private hospital in Turkey. Turkey’s first nursing school, which was opened concomitantly also became an integral part of the hospital.
The American Hospital started to admit patients on August 20, 1920, in a triplex wooden mansion on Çarşıkapı Avenue in old Istanbul with 45 beds and 3 operating rooms. Later, it moved to its more substantial current location in Nişantaşı.
After it was initially operated by the American Hospital of Istanbul Inc with headquarters in New York, it was transferred to the Vehbi Koç Foundation, which had always supported the hospital since its establishment. The Vehbi Koç Foundation invested more than 300 million US dollars in renovations and improvements paving the way for the American Hospital to occupy its current leadership position in the Turkish health sector.
Today we are incredibly proud of running a hospital with 278 patient rooms, including 58 rooms reserved for intensive care patients, 62 intensive care beds and 12 operating rooms. We serve more than 220,000 patients and carry out more than 10,000 operations annually. The American Hospital leads the Turkish health sector with its long-standing rich history and superlative patient care.
Alongside affiliated Vehbi Koç Foundation Healthcare Institutions the American Outpatient Medical Center, the Koç University Hospital, the Bodrum American Hospital and the American Hospital is a center of excellence, expertise, and innovation.
The “New Grounds” broken by the American Hospital in the Turkish healthcare sector since its foundation:
- First Nursing School (1920)
- First Administration of Spinal Anesthesia (1946)
- First Rh Typing (1948)
- First Neonatal Exchange Transfusion (1949)
- First Hospital with an Generator (1965)
- First Kidney Dialysis Unit (1966)
- First Private Family Planning Clinic (1972)
- First Check-Up Clinic (1972)
- First Intensive Care Nursing Course (1978)
- First Outpatient Operation (1983)
- First Preventive Medicine Center (1988)
- First Specialized Intensive Care Unit (1990)
- First Private Infertility (IVF) Training Center (1995)
- First Brain Surgery, Micro-electrode Surgery for Movement Disorders (1996)
- First Non-surgical Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVI) (2009)
- First Robotic Thoracic (Lung) Surgery (2010)