Turkey’s Health Services Down due to Ailing Economy

The current economic crisis in Turkey is affecting the health sector, especially for patients undergoing chemotherapy and dialysis, a health official was quoted as saying by the Turkish Daily News on Monday. 

Chairman of Ankara’s chamber of pharmacists, Mustafa Demir, said that due to the crisis, the pharmacy sector is having difficulties in importing some important medicines, while patients are complaining about the large price hike on imported medicines.  

Demir said that it is rare to find medicines which are a product of bio-technology such as chemotherapy, blood products as well as some medicines used in kidney transplants, the local pharmacy market. The prices of these durgs have also rose sharply, the paper quoted him as saying.  

He said that due to a lack of imported medicines, hospitals have begun to postpone chemotherapy sessions for cancer patients – Albawaba.com