Health Care Reforms in Turkey and Their Impact on the Field of Radiation Oncology (original) (raw)
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Planning of Nuclear Medicine in Turkey: Current Status and Future Perspectives
Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 2012
Background and Purpose: An analysis of the current nuclear medicine (NM) status and future demand in Turkey in line with the international benchmarks was conducted to establish a comprehensive baseline reference. Methods: Data from all NM centers on major equipment and manpower in Turkey were collected through a survey and cross-checked with the primary research and governmental data. Data regarding manpower currently working were obtained from the relevant academic centers and occupational societies. Results: The current numbers of NM laboratories, NM specialists, gamma cameras, PET/CT scanners, radioiodine treatment units for thyroid cancer are 217, 474, 287, 75 and 39, respectively. There was personnel and equipment need underestimated in the field compared to developed countries. Equipment insufficiency was more significant in the Ministry of Health (MoH) hospitals. These gaps should be eliminated with strategic planning of equipment and NM laboratories. Currently, the number of the PET/CT devices is at the level of the developed countries. The number of specialists in the field should reach the expected goal in 2023. By 2023, Turkey will need around 820 NM specialists, 498 gamma cameras and 99 PET/CT devices. In addition, further studies should be made regarding other related staff, particularly for health physicians, radiopharmacists and NM technicians. Conclusion: There is an insufficiency of personnel and equipment in Turkey's NM field. Comprehensive strategic planning is required to allocate limited resources and the purchase of the equipment and employment policies should be structured as part of "National Special Feature Requiring Health Service Plan".
Radiation oncology facilities in Turkey: current status and future perspectives
Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP, 2011
An analysis of the current radiotherapy status in Turkey was conducted to establish a comprehensive baseline. Turkey's future demand analysis in view of international benchmarks was conducted. Moreover, the ministerial plans are shared to present an example for making a comprehensive planning in developing countries. The data from all radiotherapy centers in Turkey was collected through a survey and cross-checked with primary research and government data. Survey covered the status of radiotherapy centers in terms of major equipment and personnel. Data regarding manpower currently working is obtained from relevant academic centers and occupational associations. The latest ministerial registry data demonstrated 150,000 new cancer cases each year with 400,000 patients living with cancer in Turkey. Around 100,000 patients are estimated to need radiotherapy each year--a figure expected to reach around 170,000 by 2023. The current numbers for radiotherapy centers, megavoltage equipmen...
Radiotherapy Equipment and Workforce in Turkey
Turkish Journal of Oncology, 2021
Radiotherapy is a costly treatment that requires the proper use of human and financial resources. In any country, the radiation therapy equipment and workforce should be well planned for the appropriate use of resources and radiotherapy treatments. For proper planning, the current situation should be assessed and prepared for the targets to be achieved. This study aims to determine the current status of radiotherapy devices and the workforce in Turkey. METHODS Questions were sent to 141 centers to evaluate the number of devices, technical specifications, date of manufacture and the number of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, and radiotherapy technicians by Turkish Medical Physics Association. The responses from the centers were analyzed by region and compared with the situation in other countries. RESULTS The data collected in the study are from December 2019. The rate of radiotherapy devices in Turkey according to population is estimated to be 3.14 megavoltage (MV) external devices per 1 million people. The distribution is not homogeneous in all regions. The highest value is 4.59 in the Central Anatolia region, and the lowest is 0.78 in the Eastern Anatolia region. For each MV device, on average, there are 1.58 specialists in medical physics. CONCLUSION Our study has shown that Turkey has made significant progress in terms of radiotherapy equipment and workforce in the past decade. Nevertheless, although Turkey did not reach the standards of high-income European countries, it is comparable to middle-income countries.
International Journal of Hematology and Oncology, 2015
The aim this study is to evaluate current status and workload of radiotherapy (RT) centers in Turkey, by assessing time and staff required during core treatment procedures in patients with different tumor sites. A survey sent via e-mail to all hospitals that are actively treating patients with RT, that aimed expose the details on type of the techniques being used and the time spent for treatment planning and delivery for the different techniques according to different tumor sites. The results were evaluated by several variables, the type of the center (university hospitals or state-run hospitals) and the number of patients treated per year per center (<1000 patients/ year treated vs. ≥1000 patients/year treated). The survey was sent to 48 centers and the return rate was 71% (34 centers). Average daily treatment course performed by one physician was 192 per year (range: 41-650). Median number of patients treated by a specialist per year was 210 (range: 79-650) in the university hospitals and 101 (range: 41-167) in the state-run hospitals. Median time spent for treating a patient with 3-dimensional conformal RT (3DCRT) was 4 h, and it was 5 h 45 min for intensity-modulated RT (IMRT). The time spent for all cancer types treated with 3DCRT and IMRT was higher in state-run hospitals compared to university hospitals. With increasing use of newer RT techniques, the time spent for treating patients increases. Besides adequate equipment, sufficient and well-trained staff is required to achieve these newer RT technique benefits for the patients.
Historical Perspective on the Health Transformation in Turkey
2022
Turkey has undertaken major reforms since 2003 to transform and improve its healthcare system and health outcomes. This historical evaluation aims to shares experiences gained from Turkey's Health Transformation Program (HTP) with scholars, policymakers, and the public. Until today from the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the legal regulations and practices for improving health services have been explained, and the results have been evaluated from a historical perspective. Our review shows that HTP has created a model that achieved goals for universal health insurance, family medicine, access to health services, and service quality. HTP increased access to health services and affected service quality. However, it has not achieved full decentralization of secondary and tertiary healthcare providers. Public hospital associations and public health directorates were reunited under the Provincial Health Directorate. It is stated that various factors such as having three different bodies in administration, problems with the competence of appointed managers, unsettled organizational structure, more than one managers being appointed and frequent changes in office, dissatisfaction of healthcare workers, and problems in communication and coordination. Countries wishing to reform may be more productive in implementing decentralization considering in their own circumstances.
The hospital organization of the future
Nuclear medicine review. Central & Eastern Europe, 2004
The future of hospital Nuclear Medicine is triggered by the hospital organisation itself. In general, the hospital organisation of the present requires substantial changes in order to be competitive, economical, and abreast of the rapid progresses in medical developments and patient management. It also must be flexible to changes in health politics. In this special report an organisational hospital structure is outlined which may help encounter the challenging hospital future. Some hospitals have already implemented convincing changes, whereas others are far behind.
Patient Care Costs in the State Training and Research Hospitals in Istanbul in Years 2000-2007
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2011
The application of neoliberal policies that began to spread all over the world and Turkey at least since 1980s as it is commonly accepted. The latest applications of the neoliberal policies mainly observed in the service sector and especially in the health sector. After the year 2000, the important reforms in health sector has been applied by the Ministry of Health in Turkey like "privatization", "autonomy", "decentralization", "family medicine" and "general health insurance" implementations. These research aims to find out how these implementations of the neoliberal policies in health sector affect the treatment costs of the patients in public research and training hospitals in Istanbul, Turkey, which represent 60% of the hospitals in Istanbul. Document analysis has been applied in order to figure out the effect. There is time limitation in the research due to the time limitations and difficulties in reaching the old documents. This study is valid for the years 2000 and 2007, and 2003 is accepted as the turning point since the implementations of the neoliberal policies in health care industry in Turkey has been put into practice at the time.
Evaluation of the Healthcare Transformation Programme in Turkey as a Strategy for Better Health
2017
In November 2002 elections, when Justice and Development Party (AKP) came into power as a single party government, after several coalition governments in the country, it was the beginning of a new term for Turkey. In 2002, health indicators of Turkey was far behind of the OECD countries, patient satisfaction was 39.5%, often news about holding patients hostage by hospital administrations because of unpaid healthcare service bills was taking place on the media. Thus, there were several problems in terms of accessibility and efficiency of health services in Turkey (TURSTAT, 2003; OECD, 2003; WHO, 2012). Under this circumstance, AKP declared its agenda and urgent action plan for healthcare in 2002, and the reform programme in 2003, naming Healthcare Transformation Programme (HTP). And the programme has been implementing by the Ministry of Health since 2003. The programme aims revolutionary changes in Turkish healthcare system and most of these changes have been successfully implemented...
What Has The Health Transformation Program In Turkey Changed For Patients?
Hacettepe Saglık Idaresi Dergisi, 2013
Activities aimed at the reconstruction of the health sector in Turkey have gathered pace in recent years. The current political administration has put the main objectives whose implementation in the health field is foreseen under the heading of "Health for All" before the public under the name of the Health Transformation Program (HTP). One measure of the success of the program will be what these newly developed measures change from the patient's perspective. According to our research, conducted in Turkey using the questionnaire method, patients' views about the HTP are generally positive but they emphasize that problems have still not been completely resolved. Although partial success has been established with the new measures, permanent success will only be possible with health criteria being conducted in a sustainable manner on the basis of OECD country averages.