PATIENT RIGHTS PRACTICE IN TURKEY

Patient rights applications are basically the indicators showing the value given to humans raise. In recent years in Turkey, under the influence of regulations in the area of human rights, patient rights issues had been gaining momentum. In this respect, the Turkish Ministry of Health issued the Patient Rights Legislation in 1998 and defined the rights of patients admitting to health institutions in detail. In 2003, to ensure de facto application of patients' rights in the health organizations that had defined in the Patient Rights Legislation, the Patient Rights Application Directive was issued. In line with this directive, provincial patient rights coordinatorships, patient rights commissions and patient rights services had been established under the Ministry of Health. These units receive and evaluate applications of the patients' and their relatives' complaints about violation of their rights and bring them to conclusion.