Turkey’s Healthcare Policies and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the pandemic, health policies have been affected by many factors. The primary concerns are the current health system, human resources for health and an epidemic management strategy. Due to the ‘Health Transformation Program’, health services in Turkey have changed in terms of structure, service delivery and financing. Increasing investments in therapeutic services and private-public cooperation within the scope of the program has made preventive healthcare services weak in terms of structure and health personnel. Although interventions for the management of the outbreak were initiated quickly, the failure to fully implement a suppression strategy and the early removal of the interventions, have led to an increase in the number of cases. Also, a lack of transparency in data sharing has led to the failure to properly organise health services for epidemic control and has shaken the public’s trust in public institutions. In addition, due to the changing health system, people and institutions with knowledge in epidemic management were not able to transfer their experience, which prevented necessary and effective interventions from being carried out on time. As a result, it became impossible to develop effective and rapid health policies during the epidemic in a country that is constantly changing in terms of both structural and human resources for health, there is no transparency for data sharing and scientists are forced into the role of consultants and are not able to participate in the stages of policymaking.