Temporal and spatial distribution and analysis of hospitals in Turkey

One of the most valuable things a human being can have in his/her lifetime is health and for people preserving and maintaining their status of being healthy is one of the most important goals of their lives. Thus it is also essential for countries to keep the public healthy. A similar situation is also present in our country where healthcare service is a basic constitutional right. Throughout Republic period, there are six periods represented by policies developed and enforced in order to allow our citizens get sufficient healthcare service. These periods are; "1920 – 1923" period which includes Ottoman Empire's efforts to form a healthcare organization intended to provide healthcare services from urban towards rural areas; "1923 – 1946" period which includes policies and practices developed to expand healthcare services on country-wide scale and to prevent epidemics, based on previous period's existing organization during term of Dr. Refik Saydam, MD, Minister of Health after Proclamation of the Republic; "1947 – 1960" period when healthcare services were become a duty and responsibility of central government thanks to "First Decade's National Health Plan" prepared by Dr. Behçet Uz, MD, Minister of Health; "1961 – 1980" period in this period it is written on the Constitution that healthcare services are a public service required to be provided by government includes curative and preventive healthcare services and it includes legislative regulations and practices covering expansion of primary healthcare services up to villages and utilization of these services by public free of charge as well as execution of curative and preventive healthcare services simultaneously; "1980 – 2002" period during which it is added that it is also a social security right of everyone to the constitutional right which defines that healthcare service is a public service required to be provided by government; after 2003 "Health Transformation Program" has been started in order to allow individuals get more sufficient and quality healthcare service in our country; it is "2003 and after Health Policies" period during which all citizens are taken in the scope of health insurance, family practice is started, hospitals are made autonomous from both administrative and financial aspects and e-government (e-devlet) system is integrated with healthcare system. With these policies and practices healthcare services became a constitutional obligation required to be fulfilled by government and this also includes social security right. In this study temporal change and spatial distribution of hospitals which are one of the basic components of healthcare services are analyzed. Indicating development of current status in our country between 1960 and 2015, the study is presented to researchers in the light of existing studies in the field of medical geography.