The bill containing regulations regarding the health sector was accepted by the commission

The proposal adds a provision to the Law on Shops Selling Poisonous and Active Chemical Substances Used in Pharmaceutical Shops, Arts and Agriculture.

Accordingly, pharmaceutical businesses will report all movements of human medicinal products and foods for special medical purposes within the supply chain to the tracking system in accordance with the procedures and principles determined by the Ministry of Health. Those who act contrary to this provision will be subject to an administrative fine in the amount of twice the total of the warehouse sales prices of all products subject to the violation on the date of detection of the violation. In the second detection of the same act within a year, the administrative fine will be increased by one fold, and in the third detection, the license of the pharmaceutical business will be canceled. Pharmaceutical businesses will store and distribute human medicinal products, foods for special medical purposes and active substances in accordance with the procedures and principles determined by the Ministry.

With the amendment to the Law on the Practice of Medicine and Branches of the Arts, physicians, dentists and specialists according to the legislation on medical specialization will be able to work in a maximum of two health institutions and organizations. Physicians, dentists and specialists according to the legislation on medical specialization will work in private health institutions and organizations and foundation universities as insured within the scope of the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law, regardless of whether they have a contract with the Social Security Institution or public institutions.

The consent to be obtained from the patient, or from the parent or guardian if the patient is a minor or incapacitated, for any type of surgery to be performed by physicians, dentists and dentists may also be obtained electronically. The consent to be obtained electronically will be obtained via an information or electronic communication device and will be obtained using identity documents that can verify the identity of the person concerned or using biometric methods or methods that will allow electronic identity verification. The procedures and principles regarding the consents to be obtained via an information or electronic communication device will be determined by the Ministry of Health after obtaining the appropriate opinion of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority.

The titles of assistant midwife, assistant nurse and mammography technician in the law will be abolished, and the titles of "dental prosthesis technician" and "nuclear medicine technician" will be created.

Regulations regarding family medicine

The proposal includes arrangements to ensure that family physicians working in the field become specialists and to increase the number of family physician specialists through field family physician specialization (SAHU).

Accordingly, those who work as contracted family physicians in accordance with the provisions of the Family Medicine Law until January 1, 2035 will be able to receive family medicine specialization training within the framework of the principles determined by the Medical Specialization Board, without being subject to central placement, based on the results of the medical specialization exam. This training will be carried out by implementing distance and/or part-time education methods and will be completed in at least 6 years, and in at least 4 years for those who worked as a contracted family physician for at least 5 years before starting the training. Those who receive contracted family medicine specialization training will benefit from the revolving fund additional payments during the rotation periods spent in educational institutions, excluding the payment made for the purpose of increasing motivation.

In line with the abolition of the titles of assistant nurse and assistant midwife and the establishment of the title of dental prosthesis technician, the programs in which students can be enrolled in health vocational high schools will be redefined, and the statuses of assistant nurses and assistant midwives and the students of these programs after graduation will be combined under the status of "health care technician".

As of the date of entry into force of this regulation, students will not be able to be enrolled in programs of health vocational high schools other than dental prosthesis technician and health care technician. Students who have been enrolled in nursing assistant and midwife assistant programs until this date will complete their education in the programs they have been enrolled in and will use the occupational title of health care technician. Those who have graduated from nursing assistant and midwife assistant programs of health vocational high schools until the date of entry into force of this provision will also use the occupational title of health care technician.

Physicians, dentists and specialists according to the legislation on medical specialization working in private health institutions and organizations and foundation universities will apply for new work permits for work permits issued before the effective date of this provision by June 1, 2026. Work permits of those who fail to apply by this date will be cancelled.

Hemp-derived medical products, health and support and personal care products

A provision is being added to the Pharmaceuticals and Medicinal Preparations Law to regulate the sanctions to be applied in the event that the movements of human medicinal products and foods for special medical purposes within the supply chain are not reported to the tracking system for license or permit holders. Accordingly, license or permit holders shall report all movements of human medicinal products and foods for special medical purposes within the supply chain to the tracking system in accordance with the procedures and principles determined by the Ministry of Health. Those who act contrary to this provision shall be subject to an administrative fine in the amount of twice the total warehouse sales prices of all products subject to the violation on the date of detection of the violation, and if the same act is repeated within one year, the administrative fine shall be increased by one fold.

With the amendment to the Law on the Control of Narcotic Substances, the licensing or registration procedures for medical products, health and support products and personal care products derived from cannabis will be carried out by the Ministry of Health. These products will only be sold in pharmacies. The procedures and principles regarding the permitting and sale of these products and the processing, preparation and export of cannabis will be determined by the regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Health after consulting the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

With the amendment made to the Law on Pharmacists and Pharmacies, special medical purpose foods are also added to the obligation to notify the drug tracking system. Accordingly, it will be mandatory to notify the drug tracking system in the sale of special medical purpose foods, their return to the pharmaceutical warehouse from which they were purchased or to other warehouses in case of force majeure, their exchange between pharmacies, and the destruction of expired or spoiled ones.

In case of violation of wholesale drug sales and violation of the obligation to notify the drug tracking system for pharmacists, an administrative fine of twice the total of the pharmacist sales prices of all products subject to the violation on the date the violation was detected will be imposed. Administrative fines within the scope of this provision will be applied by increasing it by one fold if the same act is repeated within one year.

With the amendment to the Law on Revolving Funds to be Given to Healthcare Institutions and Rehabilitation Facilities Affiliated to the Ministry of Health, those who receive additional payments in health institutions and organizations affiliated to the Ministry of Health and affiliated institutions of the Ministry and who are assigned to the Presidency of the Health Institutes of Türkiye will benefit from the additional payment within the scope of the law.

Regulations regarding organ donation

In order to increase the number of organ donors and to make requests for donation easier and safer, the Law on Organ and Tissue Removal, Storage, Grafting and Transplantation is being amended.

Accordingly, if a person declares that they have left their entire body or organs and tissues for treatment, diagnosis and scientific purposes using secure identity verification tools via the e-Government Gateway or the information systems established by the Ministry of Health, or states this in an official or written will, or explains their wishes in the presence of two witnesses, organs or tissues will be taken from the deceased. If the will expressed by the donor while they are alive is contrary to their relatives, the will of the donor will prevail. In the absence of such conditions, organs or tissues will be taken from the deceased with the consent of their spouse, adult children, parents or one of their siblings who were with them at the time of death, or if they are not present, with the consent of any relative who was with them. Priority will be given to the spouses and first-degree relatives of donors whose organs are transplanted to someone else, after emergency patients, in the event that they need organ transplantation.

Organ donation declarations will be recorded in the Ministry of Health's central registration system in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Law. Organ donation declarations will be reported to the persons specified by the donor at the time of declaration and will not be disclosed to anyone other than these persons before the determination of brain death.

The Zoning Law includes regulations to locate emergency health services stations, healthy life centers or family health centers in parks when needed and to facilitate access to emergency health services and primary health services.

Accordingly, in parks with a total surface area larger than 2,500 square meters, land allocation will be made by the authorized administration or the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change upon the request of the Ministry of Health for the construction of emergency health services stations, healthy life centers and family health centers without allocating equivalent areas and without making any changes to the zoning plan.

The allocation process will be carried out in parks with an area between 2,500 square meters and 5,000 square meters, not exceeding the temporary building dimensions, and in parks larger than 5,000 square meters, the allocated area for health facilities to be built will be carried out in the amount of the area requested by the Ministry of Health, not exceeding twice the floor area, provided that the floor area is 250 square meters, the number of floors is 2 and the building height is not more than 7.50 meters.

The places allocated under this provision and the buildings constructed for this purpose cannot be transferred or used for any other purpose. If these places are transferred or used for purposes other than the purpose for which they were allocated, the allocation will be revoked.

According to the bill, which includes regulations regarding the health sector, those who put fake medical devices on the market, keep them on the market or put them into service will be subject to administrative fines ranging from 1 million lira to 10 million lira.

Private health institutions will not be able to engage in advertising activities that exceed the limits of promotion and information regarding health services.

Promotion and information activities in health services will be limited to address and contact information, working days and hours, specialties accepting patients, professional and academic titles of employed health professionals, and health-protective and -improving information related to the health field in which services are provided. Those who exceed these limits and those who engage in acts that are misleading, deceptive, endangering human health or creating an unfair competition environment will be subject to administrative fines of up to 2 percent of the gross service income of the previous month, not less than 100 thousand liras.

Those who place counterfeit medical devices on the market, keep them on the market or put them into service will be subject to administrative fines ranging from 1 million lira to 10 million lira.

Administrative fines ranging from 500 thousand lira to 5 million lira will be imposed on those who sell, advertise, distribute and market medical devices and provide technical services outside of the places permitted by the Ministry and the procedures determined.

Administrative fines within the scope of the regulation will be increased by one for each recurrence detected within one year. The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency and the highest civil administrator of the locality will be authorized to implement the administrative fine.

With the amendments to the Health Services Fundamental Law, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency will be able to request all kinds of financial information and documents, including those prepared electronically, from real or legal persons and public institutions and organizations within the scope of the inspection of products and services falling within its scope of duty.

The Ministry of Health and its affiliated and related institutions will determine the criteria for products and services used in the field of health informatics and technology and decide on their suitability. In addition, the Ministry of Health and its affiliated and related institutions will inspect medical devices, products, information management systems, software and systems that can exchange data with information management systems within the conditions stipulated in the relevant legislation and the procedures and principles determined by the Ministry.

According to the amendment to the Public Procurement Law, regulations will be made to ensure that medical products produced by the Presidency of the Turkish Health Institutes (TÜSEB) and companies with more than half of their capital belonging to TÜSEB will be directly purchased by other public administrations operating in the field of health and to rapidly meet the needs of public administrations.

Administrative fines for opticians

With the amendment to the Law on Optometry, opticians will be obliged to keep records regarding their establishment activities in accordance with the procedures and principles determined by the Ministry of Health.

Those who act contrary to optician practices will be given administrative fines ranging from 100 thousand lira to 1 million lira.

If the prohibitions within the scope of "optic practices", "optic institution", "responsible manager", "being in the institution", "exceptions", "optic title", "registration" and "audit" in the Law are repeated within 5 years, the administrative fine will be applied twice and the optician who violates "optic practices" for the third time within this period will be banned from the profession for one year.

The proposal also includes regulations regarding the opticians-opticians chambers and the Turkish Opticians-Opticians Association, in line with the annulment decision of the Constitutional Court.

Accordingly, opticians and opticians who are not members of chambers, with the exception of those who work in primary and permanent positions in public institutions and organizations and public economic enterprises, and pharmacists who have an optician's license and who practice pharmacy activities together in the same place, will not be able to engage in professional activities.

Natural persons and private legal entities who want to open and operate an optician's establishment will be obliged to register their establishments with the trade or tradesmen registry they are affiliated with within 30 days and have it announced in the registry gazette.

A chamber will be established in each province with at least 150 registered professionals within its borders. Chambers will gain legal personality by reporting their establishment to the Ministry of Health through the Union Central Executive Board.

The organs of the opticians-opticians chambers will consist of the "General Assembly", the "Board of Directors" and the "Disciplinary Board".

In line with the proposal accepted by the commission, the "Audit Board" is added to these bodies.

The general assembly will be formed by the members registered in the chamber and will meet once a year in September. If a majority is not reached in the first meeting, a meeting will be held the next day with the current members.

The proposal determines the number of members and duties of the general assemblies, boards of directors, disciplinary boards and audit boards of the chambers of opticians and opticians.

Regulations regarding the Turkish Opticians-Opticians Association

The Turkish Opticians-Opticians Association will consist of a "Grand General Assembly", a "Central Executive Board", a "Central Supervisory Board", and a "High Disciplinary Board". The Grand General Assembly will consist of representatives elected in the general assemblies of the chambers.

In the general assemblies of the chambers, from among the members who have completed 5 years of actual professional experience, to represent the chamber in the Grand General Assembly; 5 representatives will be elected for chambers with 150 members, 5 representatives for chambers with up to 300 members, plus one member for every 75 members over 150, and 7 representatives for chambers with more than 300 members, plus one member for every 300 members over 300, a Grand General Assembly representative and an equal number of substitute representatives.

The Grand General Assembly will meet once every two years in November. In addition to the regular meeting, an extraordinary meeting will be held upon the written request of one third of the Grand General Assembly representatives or the Central Executive Board. If a majority cannot be reached at the first meeting, a meeting will be held the next day with the representatives present.

The proposal determines the duties of the organs of the Turkish Opticians-Opticians Association.

With the article to be added to the Law on Optometry, members of the profession who do not fulfill the duties assigned to them by the law and other legislation related to the profession, who engage in actions and behaviors that do not comply with the honor of the profession, or who act contrary to the decisions of the General Assembly will be subject to "reprimand", "fine" and "suspension of professional practice". The regulations stipulate the conditions for "reprimand", "fine" and "suspension of professional practice".

Licensing and license fees

The proposal amends the Decree Law No. 663 on Certain Regulations in the Field of Health, in line with the annulment decision of the Constitutional Court.

Accordingly, a fee not exceeding 2 million liras will be charged according to the tariffs to be determined by the Ministry for all kinds of licensing, product production and sales permits, responsible directorate certificates, permits and certificates to be issued or approved by the Ministry and its affiliated institutions. These tariffs will be applied each year by increasing them according to the revaluation rate determined and announced in accordance with the relevant provision of the Tax Procedure Law for the previous year, effective from the beginning of the calendar year. However, no fee may be charged for documents that are encouraged to be obtained by the Ministry.

Licenses that authorize real or legal persons to provide a certain service in the field of health or to open hospitals and similar health institutions, within the framework of the plans of the Ministry and its affiliated institutions, will be issued by the Ministry and its affiliated institutions for a price to be determined by auction. The granting of a license will not replace the permit or license required for the relevant activity. The procedures and principles of granting a license will be determined by the Ministry.

Within the scope of the regulation, the amounts collected from licenses and permits will be recorded as revenue in the general budget or in the budgets of affiliated institutions with special budgets, depending on the relevance; 75 percent of the amounts collected within the scope of licenses will be recorded as revenue in the International Health Services Corporation, and 25 percent in the general budget.

The proposal includes regulations that will ensure that personnel employed under contract will be subject to the same practices as other civil servants who have similar status due to their acts and behaviors that violate discipline.

It will be possible to assign expert personnel to district health directorates with a district population of over 100 thousand.

Pharmacies, pharmaceutical businesses and license or permit holders shall bring the records of drugs that they have notified to the tracking system before March 15, 2025 but do not have in their actual stock, or the records of drugs that they have not notified to the tracking system but have in their actual stock, in line with the actual situation by making the necessary notifications on the tracking system within 3 months from the date of publication of the regulation, excluding narcotics, psychotropic and controlled drugs. Sanctions will not be imposed on those who eliminate non-compliances within the framework of this regulation.

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