Uzbekistan and Türkiye Health Forum: New Health Cooperation Established Between Two Countries

The 2nd Turkic World Medical Congress and the Uzbekistan-Türkiye Health Forum, organized within the framework of the 3rd Meeting of the Ministers of Health of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), began with the opening speeches of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Türkiye Fahrettin Koca, Minister of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan Professor Amrillo Inoyatov, Minister of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan Teymur Musayev, Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Azhar Giniyat, Minister of Health of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Gulnara Baatyrova and Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) Kubanychbek Omuraliev.

In his speech, Minister Dr. Fahrettin Koca emphasized that they will continue to promote the “HealthTürkiye” brand to the whole world and stated that as International Health Services Inc. (USHAŞ), they have fulfilled and will continue to fulfill their responsibility in bringing together the representatives of both countries.

During the forum, the health ministers of the OTS member states emphasized the importance of cooperation in exchanging knowledge, students and best practices, setting common standards for medical education, securing the supply chain of medicines and medical equipment, establishing a medical rescue team for the Turkic states, and joint production of medical supplies.

The Minister of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Professor Amrillo Inoyatov, then presented awards to the Ministers of Health and the Secretary General of the OTS for their special contributions to the development of international cooperation in the field of medicine.

During the forum, which was attended by more than 500 representatives from around 250 companies operating in the public and private healthcare sectors in Türkiye and Uzbekistan, the importance of cooperation between Türkiye and Uzbekistan in the field of healthcare was emphasized. In this context, the signing ceremony of the Joint Action Plan 2024-2025 between the Ministries of Health of Türkiye and Uzbekistan was organized and the goals of cooperation between the two countries were strengthened with concrete steps.

Within the framework of the organization, a total of 4 panels were held with the participation of the Ministers of Health of the participating countries, the Secretary General of the OTS and representatives of the public and private health sectors. The first panel was titled “Health Tourism Activities, Practices and Services in Türkiye” and was moderated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. İhsan Ateş, Director General of Health Services. Mr. Murat Mercan, General Manager of USHAŞ and Reşat Bahat, President of OHSAD from Türkiye and Prof. Dr. Mehmet Haberal, Founder and President of Başkent University from Uzbekistan participated in the session as speakers. Mr. Mercan stated that with HealthTürkiye, our strong health infrastructure has been opened to the whole world and they continue to work to make Türkiye the most preferred country in health tourism.

The second panel was titled “Current Developments in Health Information Systems and Application Examples in Türkiye”. The panel was moderated by Prof. Dr. Madamin Madazımov, Rector of Andijan State Medical University, M. Mahir Ülgü, Director General of Health Information Systems, Ministry of Health, Ceren Kızmazoğlu, Faculty Member, Department of Neurosurgery, Dokuz Eylül State Medical University, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Edip Gönüllü, Oncology Clinic, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir Bakırçay University.

The third session was entitled “Health Investments in Türkiye and Examples of Investment Models (PPP Example)”. Prof. Dr. Shukhrat Teshayev, Rector of Bukhara State Medical Institute, Hüseyin İnceöz, Director General of Health Investments at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Türkiye, and Prof. Dr. Hayati Durmaz, Head of Orthopedics and Traumatology Department at Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, shared important information in this session.

The last panel of the organization was titled “Product Management and International Cooperation Opportunities in Medicines and Medical Devices”. This panel was moderated by Dr. Asım Hocaoğlu, President of the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency. Kürşat Derici, Vice President of the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, Ahmet Fethi Bolat, President of the Istanbul Chemical and Chemical Products Exporters’ Association and Metin Demir, President of the Health Industry Employers’ Association delivered their speeches in the session.

At the end of the event, Mr. Selami Kılıç, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Mr. Murat Mercan, General Manager of USHAŞ visited the stands of the companies participating in the Uzbekistan-Türkiye Health Forum and handed over the participation certificates to the participants.

During the meetings and stand visits, representatives of USHAŞ and HealthTürkiye shared information about Türkiye’s capabilities and infrastructure in international health services. It was explained that international guests can easily access healthcare services in Türkiye through the HealthTürkiye web portal. At the same time, it was stated that health tourism is being developed as a state policy in Türkiye and that health services in the country are provided at international standards.

The Uzbekistan-Türkiye Health Forum, organized under the leadership of Uluslararası Sağlık Hizmetleri A.Ş. (USHAŞ), hosted B2B, B2G and G2G meetings on healthcare services in Uzbekistan and Türkiye. It provided a unique platform for ministries of health, government officials and industry representatives to share healthcare experiences. Interesting panels, workshops and training sessions organized within the forum enabled cooperation in the field of healthcare.

USHAŞ will continue to organize similar events to promote Türkiye’s strong health infrastructure and to showcase Türkiye’s achievements in the health sector worldwide under the umbrella brand HealthTürkiye.