Musa Kızılay, a project principal for Turkey at global management, engineering, and development consultancy, Mott MacDonald, explains how it is ‘helping to transform’ the country’s health system.
Turkey is home to more than 81 million people. Its population has increased by about 28% since 2000, and is forecast to reach 95 million by 2050. The growing population is putting a strain on existing healthcare facilities. In 2003, the government launched its ¤12 billion Health Transformation Programme (HTP). This aims to improve public health, provide health insurance for all, expand access to care, and develop a patientcentered system to address health inequalities and improve outcomes, particularly for women and children.
A key feature of the programme is improving hospitals and the healthcare infrastructure. The number of hospital beds for every 1,000 people in the country was 2.7 in 2013, compared with the OECD average of 4.8, and, to meet growing demand, the government has estimated that an additional 95,000 beds would be required by 2023.
Poor layouts made it impossible to equip many existing facilities with modern technologies, while some had high energy costs, and others would likely be damaged significantly by an earthquake. With public funds limited, another way was required to finance new hospitals and modernise existing infrastructure.
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