22/07/2013
Health Transformation Programme in Turkey
The Anatolian geography, in which Turkey takes place has been the region’s health
center since ancient times. Thermal springs, historical hospitals and Turkish baths are the
traditional examples of health services in Turkey. During the last years of
the Ottoman State and also the Republic of Turkey’s 80 years of accumulation, Turkish citizens
and tourists coming to our country have been served with well trained doctors, modern hospitals
and developed health services. Thanks to the “Health Transformation Programme”, put into
practice during the last nine years by taking advantage of all these experiences, great
progress and breakthrough in the health services, which are to set the world an ex-
ample, have been lived through in Turkey.
Health Transformation Programme
The main purpose of the Health Transformation Programme can be defined as “The
provision of quality and sustainable health services accesible for everyone in an effec-
tive, quality and equitable manner.”
With the man-oriented ‘Health Transformation Programme’, Turkey has accomplished
in eight years which developed countries could not accomplish in twenty years.,
HEALTH POLICIES BETWEEN THE YEARS OF 1980-2002
Article 60 of the Constitution states that “Everyone is entitled to social security and the
State takes the necessary precautions to provide such security and institutes the essential
organizations.” Moreover, according to Article 56 of the Constitution, it is decreed that
“The State single handedly plans and regulates the provision of service by healthcare
organizations with the purpose of enabline everyone to continue one’s life in physical
and spiritual health and the realization of cooperation by increasing the savings and ef-
ficiency in man power and material power. The State performs this duty by availing itself
of the healthcare organizations and social institutions in the public and private sector and
supervising them.” The same Article provides that “General Health Insurance can be es-
tablished”.
The main components of the Health Reform works during the 1990s were as follows:
1. The establishment of General Health Insurance by gathering the social security insti-
tutions under one roof,
2. The development of primary healthcare services within the frame of family practice,
3. The transformation of hospitals into autonomous healthcare undertaking,
4. The transformation of the Health Ministry into a structure by which healthcare ser-
vices with priority in preventive healthcare services are planned and supervised.
As is seen, this period has been one during which important theoretical works have been
undertaken but sufficient field could not be found for their implementation.
HEALTH IN YEARS BETWEEN 2003 – 2011
According to the World Health Organization, a country’s healthcare system must be de-
signed in a way as to provide the necessary healthcare to everyone in high quality. This
service must be effective, at bearable costs and in a socially acceptable fashion. It is sug-
gested that bearing these factors in mind, each country develops its own unique healthcare
system.
“112 Emergency Healthcare” services have started to be provided not only in cities, but also
in villages, the number of station houses has been increased, our ambulances have been
equipped with the latest technologies. Means of conveyance by air and sea have been
added to the sysytem.
Preventive healthcare, maternal and infant health being in the first place, primary health-
care services have been strenghtened, the application of family practice, which is one of
the key elments of the contemporary understanding of healthcare, has been launched and
spread across the country. In eight years, our country has suceeded in gaining ground in
infant mortality rates which developed countries have gained in thirty years. It has yielded
the same success in maternal mortality rates and in eight years it made the progress OECD
countries have made in maternal mortality in 23 years.
Thereby, the quality of healthcare services has increased, people’s access to healthcare
services became easier and while the citizens’ satisfaction by healthcare services was %39
in 2003, it exceeded %80 in 2011.
HEALTH TRAINING AND THE STATUS OF HEALTH LABOR FORCE IN TURKEY
Along with the newly established ones, the number of faculties of
medicine reached 74 in 2010. 61 of these faculties provide medical
education, while 53 of these faculties provide education in specialty
in medicine. Moreover, 61 training and research hospitals subordinat-
ed to the Ministry of Health provide training in speciality in medicine.
On the other hand, the number of faculties of dentistry has reached
31, while the number of faculties of pharmaceuticals has reached 19,
both numbers including the newly established faculties. Furthermore, there are a
total of 257 health related faculties and higher education institutions subordinated to
the Council of Higher Education.On the other side, there are 283 vocational high schools
of health subordinated to the Ministry of National Education.
Education in health is on a continuous rise.
While the number of the faculties of medicine was 21 during the academic years of
1986-1987, this number rose to 56 during the academic year of 2008 – 2009. While the
number of students enrolled in the said faculties rose from 29.759 to 35.454 during the
same period, the number of faculty members rose from 2.007 to 8.695. Accordingly,
the number of students per academic staff declined from 14,8 to 3,9. With regard to
the number of students per academic staff, it is seen that we are better off than many
European countries.
The number of doctors is on a continuous rise
By the year 2010, there are a total of 111.211 doctors, 31.978 of them being practitioners,
58.258 of them being specialists and 20.975 of them still continuing their education
in medical expertise. 63.622 of these doctors work at the Ministry of Health, 25.015 of
them work in universities, while 22.574 of them work in the private sector.
While the number of the faculties of dentistry was eight for the 1983-1984 academic
year, this number rose to 31 during the 2008-2009 academic year and 19 of these
faculties provide ongoing education. The number of students attending the faculties
of dentistry rose from 3.598 to 6.322 and the number of members of faculty rose from
504 to 1.355. While the number of students per academic staff was 7,1, this number
declined to 6,4. There are 19.264 actively working orthodontologists in our country.
5.776 of those work in the Ministry of Health, while 900 of them work in the universities
and 12.588 work in the private sector.
