Your rights and official complaint channels as an international patient in Turkey
This page describes the official channels that exist for patients in Turkey — where to raise a concern, ask a question, or file a complaint. It isn’t legal advice, and it isn’t a comment on any specific hospital or provider — just a plain description of mechanisms that are publicly documented and open to anyone.
The Patient Rights Regulation
Turkey’s Patient Rights Regulation (Hasta Hakları Yönetmeliği) applies to every health institution in the country, public or private, and to everyone who receives care in them — it isn’t limited to Turkish citizens. It sets out rights including the right to information about your own condition and treatment, the right to give informed consent before any procedure, the right to request a second opinion, the right to access your own medical records, and the right to submit a complaint if you believe your rights weren’t respected.
Hospital patient-rights units
The regulation requires every hospital to maintain a patient rights unit (Hasta Hakları Birimi) — a designated point of contact, on-site, for questions or complaints while you’re still a patient there. This is generally the fastest channel for anything that needs addressing during your stay, before escalating further.
SABİM 184 — the Ministry of Health’s national line
The Ministry of Health operates a national communication center (Sağlık Bakanlığı İletişim Merkezi, known as SABİM) reachable by phone at 184, available every day of the year. It accepts questions, suggestions, and complaints about health services generally, and can also be reached through the Ministry’s website, the e-Devlet government portal, or by email.
USHAŞ’s international-patient support line
Separate from SABİM, USHAŞ — the state health-tourism agency — operates an international-patient call center specifically for people who are receiving or have received care in Turkey as international patients, staffed in multiple languages. It’s a more specific channel than the general Ministry line if your question or concern relates directly to your experience as an international patient.
What documentation to keep
If you ever need to use any of the channels above, having the following ready makes the process faster: your itemized invoices, copies of your medical reports and discharge documents, dates and names of anyone you communicated with in writing (email or messaging), and any written consent forms you signed. None of this is required to make contact — it simply helps whoever reviews your case understand it faster.