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Turkey’s Ministry of Health: What It Does and Who to Call

Family doctors, state hospitals, 112, patient rights, pharmacies and care for visitors from abroad: which part of the ministry handles what.

ByAbdullah Habib
16 min read
Summarize with:
Ankara Etlik City Hospital: a tall hospital block with a red “Ankara Etlik Şehir Hastanesi” sign on its roof, a car park in front and the red-crescent emergency entrance to the right
Ankara Etlik City Hospital (Ankara Etlik Şehir Hastanesi), with the “ACİL Emergency” entrance on the right, one of the state hospitals the ministry runs. Photo: MustafaOyunda155, 06.03.2023, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0, file page.

Türkiye’s Ministry of Health (Sağlık Bakanlığı) runs the state hospitals, the family health centres and the 112 ambulances. It also sets the rules for medicines, for private hospitals and for patients who travel to Türkiye for treatment. Its head office is in Ankara.

In short · checked 06.11.2026

One ministry, a phone line for each need. Emergencies go to 112.

  • Emergency: 112 is the emergency line for an ambulance.
  • Doctor appointments: 182 is the line of the central doctor appointment system, MHRS.
  • Questions and complaints: 184 is the ministry’s contact centre, SABİM.
  • Poison: 114 is the National Poison Information Centre.
  • Treatment from abroad: 0090 850 288 38 38, in 6 languages.
  • Scale: Türkiye had 1,553 hospitals in 2025; 943 of them belong to the ministry.

Ministry phone lines · checked 06.11.2026

Which door do you need?

A hospital cut open, with one room for each of the ministry’s phone lines. Press a room or a button: the roof sign shows its Turkish word, the wall telephone dials the number and a paper slip carries who answers, the hours where a page states them and Turkish lines to copy.

  1. EmergencyEmergency call

    112Alo 112 Acil Çağrı, the emergency line

    Run by
    The General Directorate of Emergency Health Services (Acil Sağlık Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğü)
    Fleet, 2025
    3,591 emergency stations and 6,234 ambulances across Türkiye
    Ambulans istiyorum. Adresim: …I need an ambulance. My address is …Türkçem çok az.I speak very little Turkish.

  2. AppointmentsDoctor appointments

    182The line of the Central Physician Appointment System (Merkezi Hekim Randevu Sistemi, MHRS)

    System
    The ministry’s central appointment system for doctors
    Bir hastaneden randevu almak istiyorum.I would like to book an appointment at a hospital.Hangi poliklinikten randevu alabilirim?Which outpatient clinic can I book?

  3. PoisonPoison information

    114Ulusal Zehir Danışma Merkezi, UZEM, the National Poison Information Centre

    Run by
    The General Directorate of Emergency Health Services (Acil Sağlık Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğü)
    Hours
    Around the clock, 7 days (hospital page, article of 25.10.2019)
    Zehirlenme şüphesi var. Bilgi almak istiyorum.A poisoning is suspected. I would like information.Yanlışlıkla bir ilaç içildi.A medicine was taken by mistake.

  4. Home careHealth care at home

    444 3 833Evde Sağlık Hizmetleri İletişim Merkezi, the Home Health Services Contact Centre

    Run by
    The ministry
    Evde sağlık hizmeti hakkında bilgi almak istiyorum.I would like information about health care at home.Başvuru nasıl yapılır?How is an application made?

  5. QuestionsQuestions and complaints

    184Alo 184, Sağlık Bakanlığı İletişim Merkezi, SABİM, the ministry’s contact centre

    Takes
    Information requests, complaints, suggestions and thanks about the health system, and notifications of smoking-ban breaches
    Hours
    7 days, 24 hours (ministry news item, 2019)
    Other ways
    Social media, e-mail, fax or a visit in person
    Bir hastane hakkında şikâyetim var.I have a complaint about a hospital.Başvuru numarası alabilir miyim?Can I have a reference number?

  6. From abroadTreatment from abroad

    0090 850 288 38 38Uluslararası Sağlık Hizmetleri Çağrı Merkezi, the International Health Services Call Centre

    Run by
    The Health Tourism Department of the General Directorate of Health Services
    Hours
    24 hours, 7 days, in 6 languages (Health Tourism Department notice of 12.10.2022)
    Türkiye’de tedavi hakkında bilgi almak istiyorum.I would like information about treatment in Türkiye.İngilizce konuşan biri var mı?Is there someone who speaks English?

  7. Quit smokingQuit-smoking line

    171Alo 171 Sigara Bırakma Danışma Hattı, the quit-smoking advice line

    Run by
    The ministry
    Clinics
    Quit-smoking outpatient clinics (Sigara Bırakma Poliklinikleri), province by province
    Sigarayı bırakmak için destek almak istiyorum.I would like support to stop smoking.

  8. Drug adviceDrug advice line

    191Uyuşturucu ile Mücadele Danışma ve Destek Hattı, the advice and support line against drugs

    Run by
    The ministry
    Bağımlılık konusunda destek almak istiyorum.I would like support on an addiction problem.

What the ministry does and where it comes from

A decree-law (No. 663, a government decree with the force of law) sets the ministry’s task: that everyone can live in full physical, mental and social well-being. To do that, the ministry manages the health system and sets its policies.

  • Public health: protect and improve it, and reduce and prevent the risk of disease.
  • Care: run the services that diagnose, treat and rehabilitate.
  • Borders: keep public health risks of international concern from entering the country.
  • Training and research: develop health education and research.
  • Medicines and devices: see that medicines, cosmetics and medical devices are safe, reach people and have a set price.
  • Equal spread: place staff and services evenly so that care is equal in every region, and plan where new health facilities open, public or private.
  • Disasters: plan and run health services in emergencies and disasters.
Black-and-white view down a tree-lined boulevard in Ankara with two old buses and a row of white modern buildings on the right, the old town on the hill behind
Atatürk Boulevard in Ankara’s new district, Yenişehir, in the 1930s. The Ministry of Health’s building stood along it. Photo: Turkey in Photographs, DGPI Archive, 1930s, Wikimedia Commons; no restrictions, file page.

Four turning points

  1. 1920Law No. 3 creates the ministry after the Grand National Assembly opens. Dr. Adnan Adıvar is the first minister. The first years go to dressing war wounds and writing laws.
  2. 1923The new republic has 86 hospitals and other bed-based institutions, 6,437 beds, 554 doctors, 69 pharmacists and 4 nurses.
  3. 1961 to 1983Law No. 224 “socialises” health care (sosyalleştirme): health houses, health centres, and district and provincial hospitals. It starts in 1963 and reaches the whole country by 1983.
  4. 2003The Health Transformation Programme follows the 2002 action plan, whose aims include general health insurance for all citizens and a move to family medicine.
A pale four-storey building with brown stone trim and the lettering “T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı” above its entrance, a Turkish flag on the roof and minibuses on the road in front
A Ministry of Health building in Ankara, with the lettering “T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı” (Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health). Photo: Vikiçizer, 05.03.2014, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 3.0, file page.

Who runs it · checked 06.11.2026

Minister
Prof. Dr. Kemal Memişoğlu, appointed on 2 July 2024
Deputies
Four deputy ministers
Head office
Üniversiteler Mahallesi, Şehit Mehmet Bayraktar Caddesi No:3, Çankaya, Ankara
Switchboard
+90 312 585 10 00
Units
Eighteen units and linked bodies work under the minister.

Family doctor and hospitals who a patient sees first

Every person in Türkiye has a family doctor (aile hekimi) who works in a family health centre (aile sağlığı merkezi, ASM). The ministry first assigned doctors by where people live. Since then every person has had the right to choose a doctor and to change.

  • Free choice: any family doctor, with no limit by area.
  • Changes: a doctor cannot be changed inside 3 months, except in special cases.
  • Limit: a doctor with more than 4,000 registered people takes no new ones. The person is offered the nearest other doctor.
  • Children: newborns and children not yet in the population register join their mother’s family doctor.
  • Away from home: people who live far from where they are registered, and people who stay in Türkiye for a limited time, can see a family doctor near them as a “guest patient” (misafir hasta).
  • Finding the doctor: the nearest family health centre, the district’s Community Health Centre (Toplum Sağlığı Merkezi) or its District Health Directorate (İlçe Sağlık Müdürlüğü) can say who it is.

Three systems come up around a family doctor. MHRS (Merkezi Hekim Randevu Sistemi) is the ministry’s central doctor appointment system; its phone line is 182. e-Nabız (“pulse”) is the ministry’s personal health record system, and it opens with an e-Devlet login. e-Devlet is the state’s online services portal.

The ministry states that a patient can book a specialist examination at their own request, without a referral.

A two-storey orange building with two signs reading “T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı, İstanbul Esenyurt, Güzelyurt 2 Nolu Aile Sağlığı Merkezi”, two flagpoles and apartment blocks behind
A family health centre in Esenyurt, İstanbul: “Güzelyurt 2 Nolu Aile Sağlığı Merkezi” (Güzelyurt Family Health Centre No. 2). Photo: buzkozan, 08.03.2013, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 3.0, file page.

Primary care in 2025

Family medicine units
30,006, working in 8,330 family health centres
Visits to a doctor
13.2 per person: 41.3 percent to primary care, 58.7 percent to hospitals

Who runs the hospitals?

Hospitals in Türkiye in 2025. Health Statistics Yearbook 2025, press release of 30.09.2026.

1,553 hospitals with 270,829 beds, of them 48,360 intensive care beds. The ministry runs 53.7 percent of the intensive care beds.

943 hospitals with 172,079 beds, of them 25,973 intensive care beds.

70 hospitals with 45,740 beds, of them 7,301 intensive care beds.

540 hospitals with 53,010 beds, of them 15,086 intensive care beds.

A wide road with a yellow taxi and a white car leading to a gate sign reading “Başakşehir Çam ve Sakura Şehir Hastanesi”, with the large hospital buildings behind it under a blue sky
Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital in İstanbul (Başakşehir Çam ve Sakura Şehir Hastanesi). Photo: CeeGee, 05.08.2020, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0, file page.

City hospitals

Twenty-nine city hospitals

Among the state hospitals are the city hospitals (şehir hastaneleri). The ministry’s public hospitals directorate has 29 city hospitals, among them Etlik in Ankara, Başakşehir in İstanbul and one in İzmir.

Health insurance is a separate matter from the ministry; the guide to healthcare in Türkiye explains how cover and payment work.

Emergencies 112 and the ambulance fleet

Dial 112 for an ambulance. The line (Alo 112 Acil Çağrı, “Hello 112 emergency call”), the ambulances and the emergency stations belong to the General Directorate of Emergency Health Services (Acil Sağlık Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğü).

A white ambulance with red stripes, the red “112” on its roof and side and the words “T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı” on the side, driving on a city street
A 112 ambulance with the ministry’s name, “T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı”, in Batman. Photo: Zalasem1, 24.12.2023, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY 4.0, file page.

The 2025 fleet

Stations
3,591 emergency care stations
Ambulances
6,234 emergency care ambulances, one for every 13,810 people
Cases
1,137 cases per ambulance over the year
Special kinds
226 snow-pallet ambulances, 93 intensive care and bariatric, 50 for newborns
By air and sea
15 helicopter ambulances, 2 air ambulances and 6 sea ambulances

Patient rights and complaints what a patient can ask for, and where to go

A regulation of 01.08.1998 (No. 23420) sets nine rights and six duties for patients. Anyone who thinks a right was broken can complain, and the complaint has a set route.

  • Care and information: use the service, be told about your condition and ask questions.
  • Choice: choose the health facility and its staff, and change them.
  • Privacy and consent: your details stay private and treatment needs your consent.
  • Safety, dignity and comfort: care in a safe setting, with respect.
  • Faith and company: perform religious duties, and have visitors and a companion.
  • Complaint: the right to complain and to go to court.
  • Duties: follow the facility’s rules, give your health history as fully and accurately as you can, come to check-ups and keep appointments, respect other patients and staff, and never attack staff in word or deed.

A complaint travels in three steps.

  • First: the health facility itself looks at it.
  • Then: if it is not solved, or if the patient asks, the Patient Rights Board (Hasta Hakları Kurulu) of the provincial health directorate (il sağlık müdürlüğü) decides whether a right was broken.
  • How: through the ministry’s Patient Application and Notification System (Hasta Başvuru Bildirim Sistemi), which takes opinions, suggestions, thanks, problems and complaints and opens with an e-Devlet login.

184 is the ministry’s contact centre (Sağlık Bakanlığı İletişim Merkezi, SABİM). It takes information requests, complaints, suggestions and thanks about the health system, and notifications of smoking-ban breaches (Alo 184 Tütün İhbar Hattı, the tobacco notification line). It runs 7 days a week, 24 hours (ministry news item, 2019). Social media, e-mail, fax and a visit in person also reach it.

Medicines and pharmacies safety, prescriptions and night duty

The ministry’s task includes seeing that medicines, cosmetics and medical devices are safe, reach people and have a set price. The agency that works on this is the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (Türkiye İlaç ve Tıbbi Cihaz Kurumu, TİTCK).

Agency contact centre
444 4 680 (TİTCK İletişim Merkezi)
Side effects
0 800 314 00 08, a free line for notifying medicine side effects (Ücretsiz İlaç Yan Etki Bildirim Hattı), weekdays 09:00 to 18:00
Agency head office
+90 312 218 30 00
e-prescription
Five languages were added to the e-prescription system (e-Reçete) on 29.08.2023: English, German, Arabic, French and Russian.

A duty pharmacy (nöbetçi eczane) takes its turn on a roster, so that people can get medicine during duty hours. A guide of the medicines agency, dated 12.05.2023, sets the rule in three steps.

  1. The chamber draftsThe pharmacists’ chamber (eczacı odası) draws up the roster. It hands the roster in at least 20 working days before it starts; if it does not, the health directorate prepares the roster.
  2. The directorate approvesThe provincial health directorate (il sağlık müdürlüğü) approves the roster before it takes effect.
  3. The roster is publishedThe approved roster is published on e-Devlet and on the directorate’s website. Each pharmacy is bound by it.

Pharmacies in general are covered in the guide to pharmacies in Türkiye.

Treatment for visitors the rules for patients from abroad

The Health Tourism Department (Sağlık Turizmi Daire Başkanlığı) belongs to the ministry’s General Directorate of Health Services. It plans health tourism services and issues the permits for them, sets the criteria for admitting patients who come to Türkiye for treatment, looks at their requests and complaints, and works with USHAŞ (International Healthcare Services Corporation).

Deadline: 31.12.2026

The deadline binds health facilities that take patients from abroad. Under the regulation of 26.04.2025 (notice of 13.05.2026), hospitals, laboratories, medical centres and dialysis centres that hold an international health tourism authorisation are required to be accredited by TÜSKA by that date. Other facilities, such as practices and polyclinics, need a certificate from the provincial health directorate. A facility that has not finished by then can no longer admit international patients or offer services under health tourism.

Call centre
0090 850 288 38 38, the International Health Services Call Centre (Uluslararası Sağlık Hizmetleri Çağrı Merkezi). It answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in 6 languages (department notice of 12.10.2022).
Authorised facilities
The lists of facilities that hold a health tourism authorisation were updated on 05.10.2026.
Price schedule
A new public health services price schedule (Kamu Sağlık Hizmetleri Fiyat Tarifesi) has been in force since 16.02.2026. It replaced the one in force since 25.01.2024.

Units a patient or visitor meets among the eighteen

Care

General Directorate of Health Services

Private hospitals and clinics, the health professions, organ transplants and dialysis, blood, patient rights and health tourism.

Sağlık Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğü

Care

General Directorate of Public Hospitals

The state hospitals, the city hospitals among them.

Kamu Hastaneleri Genel Müdürlüğü

Prevention

General Directorate of Public Health

Family medicine, and the work against tobacco and substance addiction.

Halk Sağlığı Genel Müdürlüğü

Emergency

General Directorate of Emergency Health Services

The 112 line, the ambulances and the emergency stations.

Acil Sağlık Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğü

Medicines

Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency

Medicines and medical devices: the contact centre and the free side-effect line.

Türkiye İlaç ve Tıbbi Cihaz Kurumu

Borders

General Directorate of Health for Borders and Coasts

Public health at Türkiye’s borders and coasts.

Türkiye Hudut ve Sahiller Sağlık Genel Müdürlüğü

Data

General Directorate of Health Information Systems

The ministry’s health statistics.

Sağlık Bilgi Sistemleri Genel Müdürlüğü

Visitors

International Healthcare Services Corporation

Works with the Health Tourism Department on health services for patients from abroad.

USHAŞ – Uluslararası Sağlık Hizmetleri A.Ş.

How to reach it address and every line

Head office
Üniversiteler Mahallesi, Şehit Mehmet Bayraktar Caddesi No:3, Çankaya, Ankara
Switchboard
+90 312 585 10 00
Emergency
112 (Alo 112 Acil Çağrı)
Doctor appointments
182 (Merkezi Hekim Randevu Sistemi, MHRS)
Questions and complaints
184 (Sağlık Bakanlığı İletişim Merkezi, SABİM)
Poison
114 (Ulusal Zehir Danışma Merkezi, UZEM)
Home care
444 3 833 (Evde Sağlık Hizmetleri İletişim Merkezi)
White Code
113 (Beyaz Kod Çağrı Merkezi), set up to follow violence against health workers
Quit smoking
171 (Sigara Bırakma Danışma Hattı)
Drug advice
191 (Uyuşturucu ile Mücadele Danışma ve Destek Hattı)
Medicines agency
444 4 680; free side-effect line 0 800 314 00 08
From abroad
0090 850 288 38 38

Sources and dates

  1. Ministry of Health, home page and phone lines — checked 06.11.2026
  2. Ministry of Health, the minister (Sağlık Bakanımız) — appointment date; checked 06.11.2026
  3. Ministry of Health, deputy ministers (Bakan Yardımcıları) — checked 06.11.2026
  4. Ministry of Health, history (Tarihçe) — checked 06.11.2026
  5. Ministry of Health, duties and powers (Görev ve Yetkiler) — decree-law 663; checked 06.11.2026
  6. Ministry of Health, contact (İletişim) — address, switchboard and units; checked 06.11.2026
  7. Ministry of Health, call centres (Çağrı Merkezleri) — the ministry’s phone lines; checked 06.11.2026
  8. Ministry of Health, patient rights (Hasta Hakları) — regulation of 01.08.1998; checked 06.11.2026
  9. Ministry of Health, Patient Application and Notification System, home page (Hasta Başvuru Bildirim Sistemi) — the nine rights, the six duties and the complaint route; checked 06.11.2026
  10. Ministry of Health, news item on SABİM (SABİM, 15 Yılda 25 Milyon Vatandaşa Hizmet Verdi) — hours and ways to reach SABİM; item of 2019; checked 06.11.2026
  11. Public Health General Directorate, Alo 184 tobacco report line (Alo 184 Tütün İhbar Hattı) — checked 06.11.2026
  12. Public Health General Directorate, family doctor registration and change (Aile Hekimine Kayıt ve Kayıt Değişikliği) — checked 06.11.2026
  13. Ministry of Health, Alo 171 quit-smoking advice line (Sigara Bırakma Danışma Hattı) — checked 06.11.2026
  14. Ministry of Health, “Is a ‘Referral System’ Considered in Delivery of Healthcare Services?” — undated; checked 06.11.2026
  15. Silifke State Hospital, MHRS 182 (Merkezi Randevu Sistemi (MHRS) 182) — hospital page of 10.05.2024; checked 06.11.2026
  16. Divriği Sadık Özgür State Hospital, Alo 114 (Ulusal Zehir Danışma Merkezini (114) Ne Zaman Aramalıyız?) — article of 25.10.2019; checked 06.11.2026
  17. Ministry of Health, news item on the White Code application (Hukuki Yardım ve Beyaz Kod Uygulaması Genelgesi Yayımlandı) — the 113 line; checked 06.11.2026
  18. Ministry of Health, Health Statistics Yearbook 2025, press release no. 14, English edition (PDF) — hospitals, beds, family medicine, visits and ambulances; release of 30.09.2026; checked 06.11.2026
  19. General Directorate of Public Hospitals, city hospitals (Şehir Hastanelerimiz) — checked 06.11.2026
  20. General Directorate of Emergency Health Services — checked 06.11.2026
  21. Ministry of Health, “5 Languages Added to e-Prescription System” — 29.08.2023; checked 06.11.2026
  22. Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, home page and call lines — checked 06.11.2026
  23. Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, guide on setting duty pharmacies (Nöbetçi Eczanelerin Belirlenmesine İlişkin Kılavuz, ECZ-KLVZ-09) — guide of 12.05.2023; checked 06.11.2026
  24. General Directorate of Health Services — its departments; checked 06.11.2026
  25. Health Tourism Department, home page — lists updated 05.10.2026; checked 06.11.2026
  26. Health Tourism Department, duties (Dairenin Görevleri) — checked 06.11.2026
  27. Health Tourism Department, notice to authorised facilities (Sağlık Turizmi Yetki Belgesine Sahip Sağlık Tesislerinin Dikkatine) — regulation of 26.04.2025, deadline 31.12.2026; notice of 13.05.2026; checked 06.11.2026
  28. Health Tourism Department, change in the public health services price schedule (Kamu Sağlık Hizmetleri Fiyat Tarifesinde Değişiklik Yapılmıştır) — schedule in force since 16.02.2026; notice of 05.10.2026; checked 06.11.2026
  29. Health Tourism Department, “International Health Services Call Center Commences Service” — notice of 12.10.2022; checked 06.11.2026

Article Information

Written by: Abdullah Habib
Published: November 6, 2026
Category: Economy