Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu attended a meeting at Çankaya Mansion chaired by Mehmet Uçum, vice chair of the Presidential Law Policies Board. At the beginning of his speech, Memişoğlu wished the new judicial year success and prosperity.
Memişoğlu said policy boards were consultative mechanisms that brought a multifaceted perspective to public administration, strengthened collective wisdom and contributed to decision-making processes. He added that they valued the work of the Law Policies Board and the ideas it had put forward.
Emphasis on a legal foundation for health policies
Memişoğlu said law and health were two fundamental, complementary fields in the state order centered on people and society, and in protecting human dignity and social welfare. He added that they were working to strengthen healthcare infrastructure.
Memişoğlu said the healthcare system was being developed through city hospitals, renewed technological infrastructure and the contributions of healthcare workers. He added that sustaining this physical development required not only strong investment but also a qualified legislative infrastructure.
Memişoğlu said every step in the health sector must be based on a predictable, fair and equitable legal foundation, adding that they did not view legislation merely as an administrative obligation. He said legislation was one of the tools for implementing health policies in the field, a guarantee of citizens’ rights and a safeguard for the healthcare system.
Memişoğlu announced that more than 160 legislative regulations had been implemented since July 2024 across a broad range of areas, from preventive healthcare services and health tourism to digital organ donation and the fields of practice for healthcare professionals.
Safety of healthcare workers on the agenda
Memişoğlu said they aimed to build a healthcare system that protects, develops and produces in line with the vision of the Healthy Türkiye Century. He added that scientific data, needs identified in the field, collective wisdom and a culture of consultation were taken as the basis when preparing regulations.
Memişoğlu said ensuring that healthcare workers had a safe working environment was among their priorities. He added that they considered the board’s assessments important regarding the strengthening of legal mechanisms to prevent violence in healthcare and increase deterrence.
Memişoğlu said strengthening legal regulations protecting physicians and other healthcare workers against risks they might face while performing their duties was among their priorities. He also stressed the importance of legally safeguarding gains in health technologies, alongside domestic production of medicines, vaccines and medical devices.
Cooperation among health policy boards
Prof. Dr. Serkan Topaloğlu, vice chair of the Health Policies Board, said health and law were two fundamental, complementary areas of public interest centered on people. Topaloğlu said effective and lasting health policies were possible with a strong legal infrastructure.
Topaloğlu said many issues had been addressed, ranging from the delivery of healthcare services and medicine and medical device policies to strengthening the domestic healthcare industry, health education and the rights of healthcare workers.
Topaloğlu said the health sector was constantly changing in line with scientific and technological developments, adding that developing timely and accurate solutions to emerging needs was a shared goal. He said the Ministry of Health, the Health Policies Board and the Law Policies Board were working in close cooperation to identify needs in the field and reflect priorities in health policies.
Topaloğlu cited the work to expand the use of automated external defibrillators as one example of this cooperation.
Uçum delivers zero-tolerance message on violence in healthcare
Mehmet Uçum, vice chair of the Presidential Law Policies Board, said the duties and powers of the policy boards were regulated by Presidential Decree No. 1. Uçum added that the boards could hold expanded meetings with the participation of ministries and other relevant stakeholders.
Uçum said the right to a healthy life was one of the fundamental human rights and was constitutionally protected. He added that the Ministry of Health’s work was being advanced במסגרת the vision of the Healthy Türkiye Century.
Uçum argued that significant progress had been made in the health sector in areas including city hospitals, infrastructure, and physician and staff capacity. He said Türkiye was carrying out work to produce medical devices, health software, medicines, vaccines and biotechnology products as part of its health technologies efforts.
Uçum said data related to treatment processes were stored through the e-Nabız application, and that reforms had been carried out as part of digital transformation in healthcare with the expansion of the Drug Tracking System and the Centralized Hospital Appointment System. He added that zero tolerance for violence in healthcare was among the fundamental principles.
Uçum said rapid and effective intervention was being carried out through the white code system in the fight against violence targeting healthcare workers. The meeting continued behind closed doors after the speeches.
