Delivering a speech at Parliament on Friday, Health Minister Recep Akdağ said the law favors both doctors and patients. “I believe people will thank us for having introduced this law,” Akdağ said, adding that with the new law, patients will be able to benefit from health services more easily than before and that health sector public servants will enjoy a salary increase. A total of 218 deputies voted in favor of passing the law in Parliament while 21 objected.
The law prohibits doctors working at public institutions from working at their own private practices or those of other private institutions. It also introduces a performance evaluation system for faculty members who work at university hospitals to match the system currently in place at state hospitals. While it foresees a partial rise in overtime rates, it prohibits medical school faculty members from working at private institutions. It does, however, pave the way for members of medical schools to work at other public hospitals under the Ministry of Health.
Enacting the bill would also mean that university hospitals would no longer be able to charge patients extra fees for certain procedures and surgeries. The bill would also outlaw the practice of allowing faculty members to work at foundations and associations. Eighty-one percent of doctors working at Ministry of Health hospitals are currently working full time, and this percentage is likely to increase to 95 percent with the new law.
Some hail the bill as an important step in addressing Turkey’s shortage of doctors while some, on the other hand, oppose the bill, citing that it would negatively affect patients’ safety and the future of medical education. The Turkish Doctors Union (TTB) and 10 other health organizations held a demonstration on Tuesday to protest the bill and said they would hold a strike unless the bill is withdrawn. The government, however, thinks the protests are politically motivated and that a possible strike is out of the question. Akdağ said last week that the majority of doctors support the bill.
