Mehmet KAYA/ANKARA
The number of applications to private hospitals increased slightly. In the first 5 months of 2022, applications to private hospitals increased by 19.25 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, while applications to public hospitals increased by 56 percent. The number of applications to university hospitals increased by 35.7 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. In the first five months of 2022, a total of 232 million 645 thousand applications were made to hospitals. Even in this period alone, the number of applications per person approached 3. As of the first 5 months of the year, the payments made to hospitals increased by 55 percent and the payments to pharmacies increased by 48 percent.
Economic difficulties and the rise in inflation began to show themselves in the health system. While some private health institutions were excluded from the scope of social security, it was observed that citizens’ interest in public health institutions increased. During the epidemic, applications to hospitals fell rapidly due to both the restrictions and the fear of infection by the citizens. As of 2022, the rapid increase in hospital admissions started again. It was noteworthy that the increase in applications was dominated by public health institutions. According to social security data, health expenditures within this scope increased by 66.56 percent compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 119.8 billion TL at the end of the 6 months of the year.
The numerical increases in health applications occurred mainly in secondary and tertiary state hospitals. Applications to private health institutions increased slightly. While the number of applications to private hospitals increased by 19.25 percent, the number of applications to secondary level public hospitals increased by 52.71 percent, and the number of applications to tertiary public hospitals by 56.93 percent. Only 30.6 million of the 232.6 million applications made to hospitals were made to private health institutions.
