Human Resources for Health in Turkey: Current Situation, Challenges and Solutions

The implementation of effective health policies in a population depends to a large extent on the provision of efficient, accessible, viable and high-quality service network by health care personnel. One main objective of any given health care system is to improve the health of the population. Providing for an appropriate health sector workforce capacity is one means to achieve this goal. The human resources for health (HRH) sector have specific features that cannot be ignored to attain health objectives. The lack of explicit policies for challenges in human resources for health such as shortage of health professionals, geographical misdistribution and ineffective planning has produced, in most countries including Turkey, imbalances that threaten the health care systems of the countries. In this context, this paper presents current situations and targets to explore the problems for HRH in Turkey's case as well as potential causes and solutions by considering policy recommendations.