Doctors, insurance and emergencies in Istanbul

Emergencies

112 is the single emergency number, it is free, and it works day and night from mobiles and landlines anywhere in Türkiye, covering ambulance, fire, police, gendarmerie, AFAD, forest fire and the coastguard. Calls are handled in Turkish, Arabic, English, Russian and German, and there is a sign language service called Engelsiz 112. Hospital emergency departments are open around the clock and are for emergencies, so anything that is not one belongs with a family health centre or a booked appointment.

Booking a doctor

Appointments at Ministry of Health hospitals and at oral and dental health centres run through MHRS, the central physician appointment system, by phone on 182, at mhrs.gov.tr or in the MHRS app. You can use it as soon as you have a Foreigner Identity Number. University hospitals and private hospitals are not in MHRS and are booked directly with the institution. Day-to-day primary care happens at Aile Sağlığı Merkezleri and Toplum Sağlığı Merkezleri, which handle outpatient diagnosis and treatment, vaccinations, and maternal and child health.

The first year is private

Health insurance covering the whole permit period is a condition of the residence permit, so you arrive insured or you do not get the permit. A policy held abroad is not valid in Türkiye, except under one of the bilateral social security agreements Türkiye has signed, so ask SGK whether your country is on that list before you rely on cover from home. On a private policy you pay the doctor and the pharmacy up front and claim the invoices and prescriptions back from the insurer afterwards.

Joining Genel Sağlık Sigortası

GSS is the public health insurance, and taking it out requires a year's residence in Türkiye first. You apply at the İl SGK Müdürlüğü with three things: your residence permit document, the original or a copy of the letter from SGK or your country's labour attaché showing your social security status, and a letter of commitment form. Students are the exception to the qualifying year, and can join if they request it within three months of first enrolling at their school. Cover terminates automatically when your residence permit expires, so a lapsed permit is a lapsed health cover as well.

• Once you are in, cover extends to your spouse, children under 18, children under 20 in high school or apprenticeship training, unmarried children under 25 in higher education, children assessed as disabled, and parents whose livelihood you provide.
• The monthly premium, and whether a deadline applies once the qualifying year is complete, are not in the official guide. Ask the İl SGK Müdürlüğü for both before the year is up.

Pharmacies

Many medicines, antibiotics among them, are prescription only. Pharmacies keep ordinary daytime hours, a little later in summer, and close early on Saturdays. Overnight and on Sundays only the duty pharmacy, the nöbetçi eczane, is open, and its address is posted in the window of every other pharmacy.