An ethical problem of the human medicine sector in Turkey: bribery
An ethical problem of the human medicine sector in Turkey: bribery

Summary/Abstract: The far-reaching implications of globalisation have inevitably left a mark on the Turkish medicine industry in the last decade. It is obvious that the industry will soon have to cope with new conditions if it wants to continue its existence, especially with the advent of EU harmonisation laws. Nevertheless, in a developing country such as Turkey, the significance and sensitivity of the issue is heightened when the subject is ‘human’ and the product is ‘drug’. The presence of a higher power urging the medicine sector towards a rapid harmonisation and development process, coupled with imbalances caused by country-specific conditions such as an unregulated health system, unsolved financial problems, exchange-based raw materials and strong state interference, aggravate the ethical problems. Given the significant link between consumer purchasing power and bribery perception levels that depend on economic and cultural variants, Turkey’s experience of intense growth followed by strong competition has made medicine producers and sellers more profit-oriented, leading to over-consumption and competition in the medicine sector. In addition, the rapid growth observed in world trade and the investments made in the last five decades have also increased cases of bribery. Indeed, bribery has become the main public problem at the international level (Sanyal and Samanta, 2004).

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