Turkey is undertaking some major healthcare reforms and is constantly increasing its healthcare spend.
It is fast emerging as one of the hottest healthcare markets in the global arena, driven by reforms and private investments. The country has doubled its healthcare spending in the last 10 years, reaching $62.3 billion, with its large population of 74.7 million and an increasing patient base, according to a recent report.
The Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, in a recent interview said the Turkish government has passed health reforms that could not even be realized by U.S. President Barack Obama.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also recently claimed that he once advised Obama to undertake healthcare reforms in the U.S., following a request by American tourists in Turkey. Erdogan said his U.S. counterpart “could only solve the issue partly” due to “a negative reflex.” Other countries were trying to replicate the success of the Turkish model, he added.
"In parallel to its economic growth, Turkey has gone through a significant socio-economic transformation in the past ten years. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of patients for various chronic diseases has doubled in the country, reaching nine million diabetes and one million cancer patients. A fast aging trend is also observed in the country, which will lead to a larger patient base after 2020",Philipp Reuter, Director South Europe and Turkey at Frost & Sullivan, recently said.
Healthcare has been the greatest focus of the current Turkish government, who came to power in 2002 and immediately launched the country's healthcare transformation programme, focusing on a national health insurance scheme. While the government's healthcare budget doubled during the reform period, the coverage of public insurance has increased from 50 percent of 2003 to 100 per cent in 2015.
Another significant outcome of the healthcare transformation programme has been the increasing quality of healthcare services in the country. Between 2006 and 2010, the number of private hospitals increased by 86 per cent, while the rate of qualified beds increased from 12 percent of 2002 to 40 percent in 2011. In addition, the installed base number of MRI units increased by 12 fold, from 58 to 781."
As an emerging hotspot in the global healthcare market, Turkey has attracted significant global investments in various segments such as private healthcare services, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. After 2010, many healthcare companies have made Turkey their CEE/MENA headquarters, whereas Turkey's largest private hospital groups were acquired by private equity groups.
Currently, the top 10 private hospital chains in Turkey comprise 30 per cent of Turkey's private healthcare services revenues of $10 billion, whereas the Turkish pharmaceuticals market is the sixth largest in Europe, with its $13.5 billion revenues.
Turkey has vast potential for all types of companies across the healthcare spectrum. Having always been regarded as a R&D hub in the healthcare industry, the country is now a huge and mostly unsaturated consumer market with significant opportunities in the area of healthcare services, innovative medical device technologies, pharma and clinical diagnostics.
Turkey’s public-private-partnership (PPP) model healthcare projects, dubbed the “city hospitals,” are to receive significant amounts of invesment in the coming years, according to Turkey’s Minister of Health, Mehmet Muezzinoglu. About 32 city hospital projects would be operational by 2018, he added.