President Abdurrahman Kaan: “As Türkiye, we must take part in this competition in the strongest possible way with domestic and national production. The development of the pharmaceutical sector, as you know, is directly proportional to R&D investments. Increasing the investments made in this field is essential for the advancement of the sector and for raising our country's position in world markets.
The Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) organized the Afyonkarahisar Branch-hosted “Domestic Pharmaceutical Production and Thermal Health Tourism” themed “Visionary Anatolian Meetings: Afyonkarahisar” program.
At the program held with the participation of MÜSİAD Board of Directors members and Branch Presidents, MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan, Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of Türkiye Prof. Dr.Muhammet Güven, Former Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu, Afyonkarahisar Governor Mustafa Tutulmaz, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine Infectious Diseases Faculty Member Prof. Dr. İsmail BALIK, Turkish Pharmacists Foundation President and AK Party İstanbul Deputy Pharm. Mehmet DOMAÇ, Afyonkarahisar University of Health Sciences Rector Prof. Dr. Nurullah OKUMUŞ ‘ took part as speakers.
Speaking at the program, President Abdurrahman Kaan emphasized that Türkiye has a steadily growing pharmaceutical market and that in 2017 it rose to 17th place in the world by reaching TRY 24.26 billion. Pointing out that expanding domestic pharmaceutical production is essential, Kaan stated that the dominance of imported medicine in the sector must be broken. Kaan said, “ Türkiye must from now on aim for the very top in the ranking of countries that produce and export medicine. The political will is displaying a strong stance on this matter. We too, as policymakers, the private sector, universities and NGOs, must come together and raise domestic pharmaceutical production as soon as possible to a level that will free the sector from dependence on imports. Priority must be given to establishing incentive mechanisms, supporting domestic producers and facilitating production conditions. We know that the pharmaceutical sector is an extremely tough competitive environment worldwide. But if we assess our conditions correctly and can read the future, there is no obstacle before us to carrying the Turkish Pharmaceutical Sector to the point we target.” he said.
Priority Must Be Given to Preventive Health Services
Stating that the pharmaceutical sector is one of the fastest developing sectors in the world, Kaan said; “As Türkiye, we must take part in this competition in the strongest possible way with domestic and national production. The development of the pharmaceutical sector, as you know, is directly proportional to R&D investments. Increasing the investments made in this field is essential for the advancement of the sector and for raising our country's position in world markets. But on the other hand there is another issue I would particularly like to underline: While supporting all these developments and ensuring the progress of the sector, we must at the same time also prioritize the issue of “preventive health services”. This will enable us both to prevent waste by avoiding unnecessary medicine consumption and to build a healthy society in the long term.” he said.
The Number of Facilities Must Be Increased
Also sharing his assessments on preventive health services and their impact on tourism, Kaan said, “Preventive health services are an issue we must dwell on and think about at least as much as the development of the pharmaceutical sector, and for which we must draw up a road map for the future. We say Afyonkarahisar is the capital of thermal; thermal treatment methods are extremely widespread and accepted treatment methods in our country and in the world. But at the same time thermal is also an important “protective method”. When we look at thermal tourism in the world, we see that countries are turning to major investments in this field and are making long-term plans particularly in this area with a view to increasing tourism revenue. Today, 12-13 million people travel each year to the city of Beppu in Japan alone within the scope of thermal tourism. A total of 100 million people benefit from thermal tourism facilities at 1,500 hot springs. In addition, it is known that many countries such as Germany, Russia, France and Switzerland make serious investments in thermal. Our country too, in terms of thermal tourism potential, is at a level that can compete very comfortably with its rivals in the world. We have around 1,300 thermal and drinking water sources in various regions, primarily Afyon, Yalova, Pamukkale, Çeşme, Kızılcahamam and Bursa. In tourism, as you know, having natural, historical and cultural assets is a value; but while opening these to tourism, you also need to make progress in terms of infrastructure and facilities. Our country has come a long way on this matter and has built facilities of world standards and brought them into tourism. But we need to move forward by increasing the number of facilities even further and by setting standards in a way that will satisfy domestic and foreign tourists.” he assessed.
Thermal Tourism Is an Issue We as Türkiye Must Cherish
Delivering the opening speech of the program, Deputy President Ali Gür expressed that as MÜSİAD they are carrying out work so that the Turkish pharmaceutical sector can reach the point it deserves. Also sharing his assessments on preventive health services, Gür said; “ One of the topics we will dwell on today is thermal tourism, which is counted among “preventive health services”. Thermal tourism is an issue we as Türkiye must cherish. There are magnificent sources of healing in our lands; we must make the best possible use of them. We need to carry out serious work both in developing investments and in raising awareness among the public. I believe that by putting the necessary planning and investments into practice within a short time, we will reach our targets.” he said.
“Afyonkarahisar Is in a Central Location Through Which Thousands of People Pass in Transit”
Afyonkarahisar Branch President Ahmet Karakol, for his part, gave the participants information about the underground and above-ground riches of Afyon. Karakol said, “Whatever the geographical position of the territory of the Republic of Türkiye is on the world map, our province has the same central position on the map of our country. For our province, by virtue of lying at the intersection point of all highways and railways from east to west and from north to south, is in a central location through which tens of thousands of people pass in transit every day.”
In the panel session of the program, the speakers briefly touched on the following topics:
Ankara University Faculty of Medicine Infectious Diseases Faculty Member Prof. Dr. İsmail BALIK : Türkiye has made great progress in life expectancy, in preventing deaths occurring during childbirth and in vaccination. As a result of this situation, an intense increase in medicine use came about. As a result of the control and pressure exerted by the public sector, a major increase on a box basis was experienced in the pharmaceutical sector and this situation began to create a great burden on the public sector. At this point we need to bring new inventions into play. One of our most important problems is invention. Invention and innovation in medicine are extremely valuable. The value of a molecule is TRY 1 billion. For this, invention and innovation are important. We too need to design the education system accordingly.”
Deputy Chairman of the MÜSİAD Health Sector Board Salih Beşir: “In fact, the ideal is to reduce medicine as much as possible. Today most illnesses arise from wrong nutrition, wrong lifestyle, stress and similar things. In addition, factors such as insufficient activities like sport and food not being healthy also cause illnesses. In fact, as a country we have to concentrate on these fields and create awareness among the public. We must ensure that the public becomes conscious about healthy living, consuming the right food, and a correct and peaceful lifestyle.”
Turkish Pharmacists Foundation President and AK Party İstanbul Deputy Pharm. Mehmet Domaç: We as Türkiye have a serious advantage. Geopolitically we are in a magnificent position. With our modern hospitals and our trained health personnel we hold significant potential. In addition to our historical and natural beauties, health tourism, food tourism and our thermal resources also provide a serious advantage. In terms of thermal resources we are first in Europe and 4th in the world. The most important advantage of thermal tourism is that it does not show seasonal variation. It also creates opportunity for regions with development potential. It creates opportunity for accommodation and employment.”
Afyonkarahisar University of Health Sciences Rector Prof. Dr. Nurullah Okumuş: In today's world the tourism sector is growing a little more with each passing day. Especially with the gradual increase in the economic power of countries and the development of transportation, travel by the citizens of countries to other countries is steadily increasing. In recent years health tourism has increasingly come to the fore in the tourism sector. The tourism sector has a volume of USD 3 trillion in the world. Health tourism covers approximately USD 500 billion of this. As of today, there is patient traffic of around 30 million in the international arena. Health tourism is projected to have a volume of USD 1 trillion in 2013. Türkiye is an important country that can take a share of this pie. Türkiye is positioned as an important centre of attraction with its transportation infrastructure, its history and its competitive opportunities.”