24.10.2025 16:09
Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu stated that smoking cessation units have now been established in family health centers, and that both counseling and medication support will be provided. Minister Memişoğlu said, "Please, when our citizens see the health units, let them go there and say, 'I smoke. I believe that now is the time to quit,' and please work together on quitting smoking."
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Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu visited the Aksu Family Health Center in the Aksu district of Antalya, where renovation works are being carried out. The visit was attended by Antalya Governor Hulusi Şahin, AK Party Antalya MPs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Kemal Çelik, Provincial Health Director Behzat Özkan, and AK Party Provincial Chairman Ali Çetin. Stating that Antalya is the capital of health tourism in Turkey, Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu said, "We are also trying to create health gardens here. Antalya is truly one of the exemplary provinces in Turkey providing health services with its universities, educational research, and a total of 47 hospitals. However, we are here to discuss and meet in order to increase our investments, improve the infrastructure, and provide better health services."
THE PROJECT OF ATATÜRK HOSPITAL IS BEING PREPARED
Minister Memişoğlu announced that they have initiated the investment for the building of Atatürk Training and Research Hospital and that the project is being prepared, saying, "We will largely renovate it as soon as possible. Our university hospital will also be the same. We are making many investments in Antalya. We have completed Döşemealtı Hospital. We hope to finish Aksu and Manavgat as soon as possible. With our health vision that protects, produces, and develops a healthy Turkey Century, under the leadership of our President, we are trying to reach not only Turkey but also every person in need of health around us."
"FAMILY MEDICINE WILL BE A MODEL"
Stating that family health centers are among the most important health units that provide people with the closest way to stay healthy, Minister Memişoğlu said, "We prioritize family health and primary health care. Therefore, we are trying to support all their needs. Today, I want to express something in particular. We are giving institutional identity to family medicine, and we are improving their physical structures. From now on, family health centers will have physical structures and logos that meet certain standards. Inshallah, we will bring all our family health centers to these physical standards with the logo and institutional identity of this exemplary family health center."
PARTIAL APPOINTMENT PERIOD FOR FAMILY DOCTORS
Calling on the entire community to support family doctors and to prioritize visiting family health centers, Minister Memişoğlu said, "Because family doctors have the primary knowledge about their own health compared to hospitals, and since we have established a system where they can also make appointments at hospitals when necessary, we especially expect our community to visit family doctors. Not just when they are sick, but our doctors and health workers are there for them to consult and get information about their bodies. Therefore, we want our community to visit family doctors. We want to protect the health of our community. Starting today, we are opening a certain capacity, not all, but a certain capacity for appointments at family health centers. From now on, some of our friends and some of our citizens will be examined by appointment at family doctors."
Addressing issues such as tobacco and cigarette use, substance addiction, bad habits, and struggles with addictions, Minister Memişoğlu said, "In this regard, we are now establishing smoking cessation units in our family health centers. Thus, when our citizens come to family health centers, we will provide both counseling regarding smoking and sufficient medication or support for those who intend to quit smoking. But let me say this to the community: it is not just our struggle; everyone needs to make an effort in this regard. We expect Turkey to create awareness about tobacco use and for the community to move away from bad habits. We are now taking our smoking cessation policies to the squares, markets, and places where our citizens are, not just with our health sciences but also with our mobile health units. We expect our citizens to go and seek counseling when they see these places, and all health workers are waiting to help them on how to quit smoking."
CALL TO CITIZENS TO "QUIT SMOKING"
Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu made the following call to citizens who smoke: "We know that every citizen who smokes wants to quit smoking. They are waiting for the right time or place. We ask, if not now, when? Please, when citizens see health units, let them go and say, 'I smoke. I will quit this at some point, but I believe the time is now,' and let them enable us to work together on quitting smoking. Because we have increased smoking cessation clinics by 80% in the last year. We have doubled them. But it is not just about smoking cessation clinics; we are going out into the squares, and we expect our community to protect their health together with us. Please quit smoking. Do not postpone it. Quit smoking for your children, your body, and your health. Go to family services, protect your body. We need to be a healthy society. We need to live healthily. That is why we say we are the Ministry of Health, not the Ministry of Disease."
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