Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Kemal Memişoğlu met with reporters in Istanbul the other day.
Memişoğlu stated at the meeting that Turkey's health system has made significant progress in the last 25 years and said, "The health system is one of the sources of pride of our country."
Stating that the number of people coming to Turkey to receive health care is over 3 million, Memişoğlu said, "The countries around us are trying to take our health care as an example, they want support from us. We are able to help many countries."
We created ESKOM
Reminding that the regulation on the provision and coordination of home health and palliative care services has been published, Memişoğlu said that with the new system, services for patients who stay in the hospital for a long time and need home care will be made more effective.
Memişoğlu said, "We integrated home health, remote health and palliative care services. We created a command center called ESKOM (Home Health Services Coordination Center). As the society gets older and the family gets smaller, we have to switch to a different model regarding the care and healthcare of our elderly. That's why we created this model."
family medicine system
Stating that the number of family physicians in Turkey has increased from 25 thousand to 31 thousand, Memişoğlu stated that there are 1,121 family physicians in Istanbul, 81 family physicians have been opened and 130 more will be opened.
Memişoğlu stated that applications such as the ability to prescribe approximately 1,850 medications in family physicians, to issue health reports and to make hospital appointments for patients when necessary have been implemented.
Cigarettes are at the top
Stating that circulatory system diseases and tumors constitute a significant portion of the causes of death in Turkey, Memişoğlu drew attention to smoking and said: "Smoking is one of the most important causes of illness and death of our people in Turkey. 46 percent of men in our country smoke. Last year, 8 billion packs of cigarettes were sold in Turkey. People need to be motivated not to smoke."
New hospitals in Istanbul
Stating that 79 large hospitals have been built in Istanbul in the last 24 years, Memişoğlu said that 28 hospitals were put into service during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
Stating that the city hospital with 4 thousand beds in Sancaktepe is aimed to be put into service in the second half of 2027, Memişoğlu noted that the work of the Haydarpaşa campus has started, the project of the Bakırköy Sadi Konuk Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases Hospital has started and the Beykoz Hospital is aimed to be completed in 2027.
HPV and SMA studies
Stating that decisions on HPV will be made in line with scientific data, Memişoğlu said that scientists are conducting studies on Turkey's HPV and cancer profile.
Stating that they are also working on SMA, Memişoğlu said that the results regarding drugs used abroad will be evaluated scientifically.
30 thousand people are waiting for organs
Stating that organ donations have been made possible through e-Government and e-Pulse, Memişoğlu said that the number of donations has reached 250 thousand so far.
Stating that more than 30 thousand people are waiting for organs in Turkey, Memişoğlu said, "Türkiye is one of the exemplary countries in terms of organ transplant centers, medicine and infrastructure. We need to increase the number of organ donations."
We identified 45 strategic devices
Stating that they are working to determine the medicines and strategic health devices that Turkey needs, Memişoğlu stated that they have identified 45 strategic devices and said, "Turkey will produce. And as a state, we are absolutely determined in this production. We have made our plans for this. We have made our projections for this. We are in great preparation on this issue with the instructions of our President. Health will be the locomotive sector of Turkey."
The use of artificial intelligence in health will be increased
Stating that the use of artificial intelligence in health services will be increased, Memişoğlu stated that inspections have started to be carried out on a risk-based basis and said, "We now carry out inspections on a risk-based inspection system rather than complaints. We receive data from all hospitals and procedures, including the private sector. If there is any data that is out of standard with artificial intelligence, we show it to our managers."
Stating that they are working on the use of artificial intelligence in mammography diagnoses, Memişoğlu said that artificial intelligence is also used in the mobile x-ray device developed by ASELSAN.
Domestic vaccines and health technologies
Describing Turkey's efforts towards the production of domestic health technologies, Memişoğlu stated that they are planning for the production of 8 domestic vaccines and that they aim to make contracts with 6 of them within a few weeks, and said, "We will produce the domestic vaccine ourselves in Turkey. In fact, we will do it by purchasing not only the filling but also the main cell, which we call 'master cell'."
Stating that studies are being carried out to produce ultrasound devices in Turkey, Memişoğlu said, "We will produce over 70 percent of our domestic ultrasound within 2 years."
Stating that the heart-lung pump was developed together with ASELSAN and started to be used in patients, Memişoğlu said that mass production will start by the end of the year.
