Health workforce policy and Turkey's health care reform

- Reform in Turkey addressed some of the health workforce challenges while exacerbating others.
- HTP's human resource policy does not include mechanisms of self-governance.
- HTP remains to be a confrontational policy.
- Participation of health professionals is a necessary condition to improve quality.

The health care industry is labor intensive and depends on well-trained and appropriately deployed health professionals to deliver services. This article examines the health workforce challenges in the context of Turkey's recent health reform initiative, Health Transformation Program (HTP). Reformers identified shortages, imbalances in the skills-mix, and inequities in the geographical distribution of health professionals as among the major problems. A comprehensive set of policies was implemented within the HTP framework to address these problems. The article argues that these policies addressed some of the health workforce challenges, while on the other hand exacerbating others and hence may have resulted in increasing the burden on the workforce. So far HTP's governance reforms and health human resource policy have not encouraged meaningful participation of other key stakeholders in the governance of the health care system. Without effective participation of health professionals, the next stages of HTP implementation that focus on managerial reforms such as restructuring public hospitals, improving the primary care system and implementing new initiatives on quality improvement could be very difficult.