Female health personnel, working at the 112 Provincial Ambulance Service and Emergency Health Services Stations of northwestern Turkish province Eskişehir, were granted a day off to celebrate International Women's Day while their male counterparts took over their duties.

Every year on March 8, female health personnel are allowed to take a day off, while male volunteers take over their shifts. Doctors, emergency medical technicians, paramedics and ambulance drivers in Eskişehir 112 Provincial Ambulance Service celebrate the day by assuming duties of around 350 female personnel for the entire day.

Eskişehir 112 Provincial Ambulance Service Chief Physician paramedic Fatih Habip Yılmaz said they practice this goodwill gesture for female health workers, adding: "As the Eskişehir Provincial Ambulance Service family, we are trying to do our best to have our female staff members spend time at home with their families."

Meanwhile, Hicran Duman, an emergency medical technician, and paramedic Gülşah Kaya shared that the same practice has been ongoing for the last five years and they spend time with their families on women's day.

"We thank our male co-workers and our chief physician for implementing such a system," she remarked.