The Turkish government has just announced that they are opening up their wallets to provide free cancer treatments to their citizens.
Jülide Sarıeroğlu, Minister of Labor and Social Security, reportedly published a statement this week saying that they have approved landmark healthcare reform that will eliminate all additional expenses and fees for cancer treatment.
According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Sarıeroğlu said: “As we are now abolishing the extra fees charged from the patient, this annual spending will rise to 750 million liras. A cancer patient will not pay any extra fee as the state will cover it all.”
The Social Security Fund will now be paying $162.4 million (TL 750 million) annually, which is a substantial increase from their previous spending of $52 million (TL 240 million).
Sarıeroğlu adds that this is only the beginning of the country’s efforts to rebuild their healthcare system “regardless of cost”, reports The Daily Sabah.
