Guidelines for telehealth services unveiled

ISTANBUL

Turkey has unveiled a guideline that regulates telehealth services to be provided by eligible institutions.

The system allows patients to receive remote health services from institutions, which should meet necessary technical criteria to offer such help.

“The new system will save time,” said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, adding that health establishments willing to provide those services should meet certain conditions.

The rules for providing telehealth services have been published in the Official Gazette.

Doctors will now be able to issue e-prescriptions and prepare medical reports for patients they examine online.

Only the institutions which have the required technological infrastructure and the permit from the Health Ministry, will offer those services.

Those eligible facilities will be required to use only the Health Ministry-approved software.

Under the new system, patients may seek a second opinion while doctors will be able to check patients’ blood sugar and blood sugar levels remotely.

Health institutions which have the international health certificate will also be allowed to offer such services.

Some 10,000 COVID-19 patients have already get examined online through e-Nabız, (e-Pulse), run by the Health Ministry, Deputy Health Minister Dr. Şuayip Birinci said.

Those patients were also to contact doctors while under quarantine, he noted. Most of those people made appointments with internal diseases experts, psychiatrists, pediatricians and physical therapy and rehabilitation experts, according to Birinci.

It was first launched in September 2020 in Istanbul, Ankara, and the provinces of Kırıkkale and Yalova and became available across the country in January last year.