Experts raise concerns over new regulation on aesthetic treatments
ISTANBUL
Plastic surgeons and dermatologists across the country have raised concerns over a new Health Ministry's regulation allowing doctors from various specialties to perform aesthetic procedures, fearing a potential rise in malpractice and compromised quality.
The ministry recently expanded the scope of cosmetic procedures, allowing physicians from different specialties to carry out aesthetic treatments after a brief training period.
According to Professor Dr. Şükrü Yazar, the head of a Turkish society of aesthetic surgeons, such short-term training is insufficient to undertake cosmetic surgeries and this procedure might result in major problems in the long run, subsequently impinging on the country’s health tourism industry.
He noted that this practice might also potentially lead to a scarcity of physicians in several fields, urging the authorities to examine the situation and rescind the decision.
Professor Dr. Zekayi Kutlubay echoed Yazar’s concerns about a potential shortage of physicians, adding that the practice could also lead to an increase in the number of malpractice victims.
According to Kutlubay, instead of expanding the scope of procedures, the ministry could have extended the mandatory service duration or implemented incentive programs in the public sector in a bid to address the high demand for dermatology and plastic surgeons.
Doctor Yasemin Savaş, the chairman of a medical aesthetics association, on the other hand, labeled the decision a significant step in combating unregistered aesthetic operations.
“As an association, our main objective is to grow the industry and safeguard it against unlawful, improper and counterfeit goods and equipment as well as unregistered operations,” Savaş said, underlining that professionals with medical school training must be allowed to undertake medical aesthetic applications as they are non-surgical treatments.
