Pharmacy in Turkey: past, present, and future

Pharmacy in Turkey underwent a radical change within the last decade. Introduction of the Health Transformation Program in 2003 has had a significant impact on Turkey's pharmacy system in accordance with objectives of the program to establish new pricing regulations for pharmaceuticals based on reference prices, and to develop better computer based health information/record systems. In this context, Pharmaceutical Tracking (Track-and-Trace) System using two dimensional matrix barcodes was initiated to prevent not only drug counterfeiting, but also fraud against the medical insurance system and off-record transactions within the pharmaceutical sector; and the process of recording prescriptions in an electronic format was launched. Some other improvements have also been made with respect to pharmacy education, law and practice. In contrast with all these positive outcomes, Turkish pharmacy sector is currently in a deep financial struggle. This paper aims to provide a brief overview of the recent developments in Turkish pharmacy system and to discuss future roles and challenges of the profession.