Turkey's health expenditures posted a year-on-year rise of 21.7% in 2019, before the coronavirus hit the country in March of this year, official data showed Thursday.
The overall spending reached TL 201.3 billion ($35.44 billion) this year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
It increased from TL 165.2 billion in 2018 and TL 140.6 billion in 2017.
"The proportion of current health expenditure to total health expenditure was 93.8% for 2018 and 93.4% for 2019," the institute said.
Health expenditure per capita reached TL 2,434 with an increase of 19.9% year-on-year, the data showed.
Turkey imposed lockdown measures in March of this year after it reported its first COVID-19 case, lifting most of them in June.
The government on Tuesday announced a fresh round of measures to respond to surging numbers of infections, including partial lockdowns on weekends across the country.
The government has also ramped up its efforts to bolster the health sector and opened several major hospitals and facilities so far this year.
The country's overall infection count stood at over 425,600 on Wednesday. The death toll reached 11,820, while over 361,600 patients have recovered.
The proportion of total health expenditures in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) was 4.7% last year and 4.4% in 2018, TurkStat said.
"Out of pocket health expenditures made by households for treatment, pharmaceuticals, etc. reached over TL 33.6 billion with an increase of 17.4% in 2019 compared to the previous year," it said.
"The ratio of household out of pocket health expenditure to total health expenditure was 16.7% in 2019," the institute added.
The proportion of general government health expenditures to total health expenditures was 78% last year, up from 77.5% in 2018.
It also reported that 48.2% of health expenditures were spent at hospitals. This is followed by retail sales and other providers of medical goods with 25.8%, and providers of ambulatory care with 11.9%.
