Türkiye is moving to strengthen domestic production in health care, with plans to manufacture vaccines, medicines and strategic medical devices locally, Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu said Sunday.
Speaking to health reporters in Istanbul, Memişoğlu said the government aims to make Türkiye’s health care production capacity “completely independent,” particularly in medicines for cancer, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and other molecular diseases, as well as immunotherapy treatments.
“We will make Türkiye’s production capacity completely independent,” Memişoğlu said, adding that the ministry has identified 45 strategic medical devices that Türkiye needs to produce domestically.
He said the list could expand and that the Turkish Health Institutes Presidency (TÜSEB) is encouraging domestic production of the devices.
Memişoğlu also announced plans to sign contracts within weeks for the production of at least six domestic vaccines. He said Türkiye would not only conduct vaccine filling domestically but would also acquire and produce the master cell used in vaccine manufacturing.
The minister said Türkiye currently has 13 domestic vaccines under development or production, with Hepatitis A vaccine already being filled domestically.
Türkiye has been pursuing greater self-sufficiency in medicines, vaccines and medical technologies as part of efforts to strengthen its domestic healthcare ecosystem. The Health Ministry has previously highlighted localization of vaccines and medical technologies as a strategic priority.
Memişoğlu said Türkiye would also produce more than 70% of its ultrasound devices domestically within rwo years.
He noted that the ministry and defense company ASELSAN have jointly developed a heart-lung machine, which has already begun being used on patients and is expected to enter mass production by the end of the year.
Türkiye is also developing mobile X-ray devices, ventilators and a capsule endoscopy device, according to the minister.
On pharmaceuticals, Memişoğlu said TÜSEB had identified imported medicines that Türkiye could produce domestically after consultations with pharmaceutical companies.
“We have planned this. We met with pharmaceutical companies and said we would produce these medicines ourselves,” he said.
The ministry is also developing a system to support health care innovations through the uretensaglik.gov.tr platform, which allows people with health care-related ideas and projects to apply for support.
Beyond domestic production, Memişoğlu highlighted changes to health care delivery, including the integration of home healthcare, remote health care and palliative care services through a new coordination system.
Türkiye has 271,000 hospital beds, including 7,822 palliative care beds, while Istanbul has 910 palliative care beds, he said.
Memişoğlu also said the number of family medicine units in Türkiye has increased from around 25,000 to 31,000, while Istanbul has 1,121 units.
He urged greater focus on preventive health care, warning that smoking, physical inactivity and weight-related problems remain major contributors to disease and mortality.
According to figures cited by Memişoğlu, circulatory system diseases account for 34.7% of deaths in Türkiye, while benign and malignant tumors account for 16%.
He also said more than 30,000 people are currently waiting for organ transplants in Türkiye, while the number of registered organ donors has reached 250,000 after the introduction of donation registration through e-Government (e-Devlet) and the e-Nabız health platform.
Memişoğlu said Türkiye’s health care transformation has also supported the growth of health tourism, with more than 3 million people coming to the country for health care services.
