Turkish health ministry forms legislation regulating alternative medicine

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The ministry has formed five sub-groups and 31 titles as a result of field examinations of alternative medical practices. Hürriyet photo

The Health Ministry has completed legislation on alternative medicine practices, taking a big step toward regulation of the currently disordered field.

The legislation on “Traditional Supplementary and Alternative Medicine Practices” has been finalized after four years of studies. It aims to draw a much-needed legal framework for un-scientific healing methods, Health Services Director General Prof. Dr. İrfan Şencan was quoted as saying in a statement released on the ministry’s website.

The ministry has formed five sub-groups and 31 titles as a result of field examinations of alternative medical practices, Şencan said. A commission founded by three specialists and three professors under the ministry’s roof reviewed scientific studies and publications on such practices and defined all sub-categories on scientific bases, according to the statement.

All five groups will be coordinated by appointed heads, who will be responsible for monitoring their field. Ministry and ministry-affiliated institutions’ employees will be trained with regard to the legislative changes, Şencan also noted.

“Licensing and the handing of operation permits for implementers and implementation fields will start gradually, in order to enable adaptation to the changing system,” he added.