Continuing from July 15

This is a photo of me and Ahmed, a second year student from Egypt, studying on exchange like myself.

We are upstairs in Rebul pharmacy where they prepare various compounds, skin care products, cosmetics and other things.









To pick up from the cafe.... afterward we head back up the same main road and in no time Kalim presents me to the pharmacy, called 'Rebul' for an unexpected series of introductions....

Come to find out the entire gang is here. We have a 2 students of Istanbul University here on an internship of sorts, there is Ahmed, from Egypt, who is here on exchange like myself, there are the pharmacists (2), what we would call a 'technician', and finally a cosmetician.

1 of the 2 Istanbul students is Faika. She a member of their pharmacy student organization and, like Kamil, will be helping me along with things; after we leave in about an hour or so she leads me back to Taksim and teaches me the bus system and what to take to return the dorm.

And finally, above all, is the legendary Mehmet. He is the owner. He is like the Godfather around here and you can tell by the way everyone is on their toes. He moves slowly, but is always observing and very engaging with customers.

He takes me by the shoulder like a great uncle and gives me the tour as if we are walking in his prized garden; a very proud man and eager to tell me about the pharmacy. I learn in fact this is quite a historic place in the world of Istanbul pharmacy. There are portraits on the wall of himself, his father, and his grandfather. I think he also has a brother in pharmacy, not to mention a son, who has been to U.S. to study, so his English is quite good.

The layout is very interesting. When you walk in, the whole right side is full of cosmetics products and skin care, this is also where the cosmetician is stationed. Just above the entrance, Mehmet tells me he will sometimes position a light spray of his fragrances to go off just as customers walk in to entice their senses (a lot of his fragrances on sale by the way, are owned and manufactured by one of his sons). On the left are ear and eye care products, supplements and plenty of herbals. Go down some more until we reach the counter itself. It's not big, maybe 3 feet across. Off to the right of the counter is a case of artifacts and antique pharmacy equipment. He tells me this pharmacy was the first to be recognized in the old government as a registered pharmacy in Istanbul or something to that effect. make a right and there is an open room with wicker couch and chairs for counseling. It's a dedicated room, separate from all the action. Off in the corner there is a little space set aside with a small counter and scale. This is for a dietitian who he has on board to come in a few days a week for diet counseling. Off just ahead is no less than a full massage station; a service free of charge where e actually has a massage therapist on staff who comes in every once in while to care for his 'best' patients.

Next we go upstairs where he has own desk laid out, clean, with various business matters. Next to it a shelf with resources. The office space is open to what I would call a laboratory/compounding workspace where there are all kinds of items for mixing. A very common thing for them to make are skin care products. For example, they may mix an anti-inflammatory with lidocaine for a burn. They also will concoct these fragrances and moisturizer creams. I will come back tomorrow and one of the pharmacists is trying to formulate a product to match something she got from somewhere, a moisturizer/cleanser thing... it goes on viscous then thins out nicely after you apply. She says she's close but something about it still eludes her...

All items are available without prescription, including antibiotics, with some exceptions - sudafed being one of them. That being said, you have to go to the pharmacy counter to get them. However, often it can be in the best interest of the patient, financially, to get a prescription for insurance purposes, namely the government (in most cases but not all, some people can have private insurance). I'll get into this later when I get to my pharmacy. My pharmacist there does a good job explaining it.

Surpisingly enough, considering how incredibly, crowded the main street is, day in and day out, they say at max they will see no more than about 20 prescriptions!! This number will increase to maybe 40 or so in their busy seasons like fall and winter. Shocking to us maybe at first but not if you think about it. As I explained, almost nothing needs a prescription and many Turks are glad to by-pass prescribers to get treatment. I am told there is a lot of waiting involved in primary care; not to mention poor record-keeping, or none at all (in many cases patients will go to multiple hospitals or health clinics), and what is more, even if after seeing the physician, he will simply tell the patient to go the pharmacy for, let's say, antibiotics.

This pretty much concludes the first day. At about 7:30pm the pharmacy closes. Me, Ahmed, and Faika go to dinner - kebaps, cheap and easy. We sit down at a corner restaurant which is ferociously busy. For drink, Faika introduces me to some sort of a yogurt cream. It is smooth but surprisingly a little salty which caught me by surprise but refreshing nonetheless.

Next to come, I will start to get into my pharmacy proper and the things I will learn from Erdem...