Nurten Saydan

Face masks being distributed for free to the public have triggered a fierce debate as some people claim that they are of poor quality and cannot protect citizens from the deadly coronavirus.

Turkish companies were allowed to sell face masks to foreign countries provided that they should also donate face masks for local use.

Patients are finding it increasingly difficult to acquire drugs in the market, and the main reason behind the problems regarding drug supplies is the currency rates, Nurten Saydan, the head of the Employer Pharmacists' Association (TEİS), has said.

Turkey's Social Security Institution (SGK) is planning to distribute imported medicines to patients via the national postal service PTT, as part of austerity measures, daily Cumhuriyet reported on Feb. 2.  

Turkey's social security body will not fund cancer treatment medicines for patients diagnosed with lung cancer who have ever had a smoking habit, according to a new regulation that went into effect on Feb. 3.

The Social Security Institution's (SGK) new regulation requires people with lung cancer to pay for their own treatment medicines if they have a smoking habit.

The Turkish Health Ministry banned the sale of cancer drugs in pharmacies as of July 1. They will now only be provided in the hospitals, in order to "prevent malpractice."

A total of 5,000 pharmacies in Istanbul have made a joint decision to not provide medicine to Syrian refugees, claiming the state is not meeting the expenses of the medicine.

Nurten Saydan, the president of the Pharmacists' Federation of Employers' Organization (TE?S), said they have agreed as pharmacists in Istanbul.