7 out of every 10 hospitals in Istanbul are private!

The Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) has prepared a report titled 'Access to Health as a Human Right: A Sectoral Analysis of Health Infrastructure in Istanbul.' The report, prepared by examining official statistics, compares health services in Turkey and Istanbul. It examines the roles of the public and private sectors. According to the report, health services in Istanbul are provided largely by the private sector.

In the last 10 years, the number of hospital beds in Turkey has increased by approximately 35 percent. The highest increase is in the private sector at 44.97 percent. The report states, "Although the number of hospital beds in Istanbul has increased significantly in hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health, the fact that the newly opened city hospitals are located in certain parts of the city as large campuses does not change the reality that there are difficulties in accessing these hospitals."

The report includes the following summary data:

• The number of hospital beds per thousand people, which was 2.22 in 1994, became 2.5 in 2005 and rose to 3.01 as of 2020. However, Turkey remains well behind the OECD average in this area.
• The number of physicians per thousand people in Turkey remains at 2.18, below the OECD average of 3.4. With this rate, we are fourth from the bottom among OECD countries. Although the number of physicians has shown an upward trend over the years, it is seen that this increase remains insufficient according to world standards.
• The ratio of specialist physicians among those working in hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health remains below 50 percent, excluding the year 2019. In line with these data, it is possible for those applying to public hospitals for issues within the scope of specialist physicians to experience problems regarding access.
• The number of family physicians in Istanbul is behind the Turkey average. While the population per family physician in the country is 3,306, this figure rises to 3,565 in Istanbul.
• Of the total 47 dentists per 100,000 people in Turkey, only 14, or 29.79 percent, work in institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Health. In Istanbul, only 11 out of a total of 64 dentists per 100,000 people are in institutions affiliated with the ministry. The rate of dentists working under the ministry drops to 17.19 percent in Istanbul.
• The highest number of private health institutions is in Şişli. Şişli is followed by districts with high socio-economic levels such as Kadıköy, Üsküdar, and Bakırköy. On the other hand, 6.4 percent of Istanbul's population lives in Şişli and Kadıköy.
• There are no public health institutions in Kağıthane, Beylikdüzü, Güngören, Esenler, and Çekmeköy; no private health institutions in Çatalca and Şile; and neither private nor public health institutions in the Adalar district.

Most private practices are in Şişli and Kadıköy

• The district with the highest number of private medical practices is again Şişli with 1,405. This is followed by Kadıköy with 824 practices. Considering that the total number of private practices in Istanbul is 4,162, 53 percent of the practices in Istanbul are located only in Kadıköy and Şişli.
• 24.25 percent of oral and dental health polyclinics and private practices also serve in Şişli and Kadıköy.

News Source: 12punto