Sema Selım Kechagıa, MD

Sema Selım Kechagıa, MD is an Emergency Service physician at Acibadem Bakirkoy Hospital in İstanbul. She provides assessment and care for patients who present to the Emergency Service with urgent medical needs. Her work centers on the patient’s immediate clinical situation: taking the history, examining the patient, arranging the investigations that are needed and organizing the next steps in care, whether that means treatment in the department, a period of observation or referral to another specialty.

Dr. Kechagıa graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Medicine in 2024. She joined Acıbadem Healthcare Services in 2025 and is a member of the Turkish Medical Association. She consults in Turkish and English.

Clinical focus

Emergency medicine is concerned with the initial assessment and management of patients whose condition requires prompt attention. In the Emergency Service, Dr. Kechagıa sees patients across a broad range of presentations rather than a single organ system or age group. Her role begins with establishing how urgent a patient’s condition is, followed by a structured clinical assessment, the ordering and interpretation of tests where they are indicated, and initial treatment. Depending on the findings, a patient may be treated and discharged with guidance for follow-up, kept under observation, or referred to the relevant specialty department within the hospital for further care.

For international visitors, an unexpected illness or injury away from home can be disorienting. Dr. Kechagıa aims to explain what is being assessed, why particular tests are being requested and what the results mean, so that patients and the people accompanying them can follow each stage of the emergency visit. Where ongoing treatment is required after the acute phase, the emergency team coordinates the handover to the appropriate specialists, and the patient receives a summary of the assessment and any treatment given so that care can continue at home if needed.

How Dr. Kechagıa works with international patients

Dr. Kechagıa consults in Turkish and English, and interpreters can be arranged for patients who speak other languages. The Acibadem international patient team coordinates the collection of prior reports and imaging, for example MRI, CT, X-ray or ultrasound reports, laboratory and pathology results, operative notes and discharge summaries, and arranges appointments and the hospital visit. A first consultation typically covers the patient’s history and current symptoms, a review of existing imaging and previous treatments, a clinical examination and a discussion of the options. Video consultation is available for international patients; in an emergency context this is generally suited to discussing existing reports, clarifying findings from an earlier visit or planning follow-up rather than replacing an in-person assessment of an acute condition. Patients who are already in İstanbul and develop an urgent problem are seen in person in the Emergency Service, where the assessment follows the same structured approach.