Özet:

In the first years of the Republic, Physicians and pharmacists rallyed in an effort to increase local production of medicinal products. By 1928 imports were restricted, and certain limitations on pharmacies were imposed. The world crisis of 1929 led to a contraction in Turkish foreign trade, and prices of agricultural produce declined, diminishing the purchasing power of consumers and patients alike. In the early 1930s physicians opted to prescribe inexpensive locally-produced medication, while pharmacists called for the liberalisation foreign imports, which were more profitable. The Society for Conciliation and Mutual Assistance among Physicians, advised its members to prefer “local galenic preparations,” while Dr. Akil Muhtar (Özden), an influential Professor of Therapeutics, stressed “Economising treatment”. The new founded Turkish Medical Association in İstanbul endorsed the campaign. Dr. H. Hüsnü Pınarbaşı (1880-1953) launched İlaç ve Tedavi (Medicine and Treatment), in a mission for “decreasing annual expenditure for imported drugs, and eventually reducing pharmaceutical imports to a bare minimum, as a service to national industry and economy.” A pharmacist by profession, MP H. Hüsnü Sarı (1888-1963), voiced the problems of his colleagues in the Parliament. He was denounced in an editorial of Dr. Mazhar Osman (Uzman)’s İstanbul Seririyatı (Istanbul Clinics), after claiming that most local preparations “were simply mixtures of drugs and chemicals prepared in laboratories and marketed with under different brand names.” Drugs licensed in Turkey multiplied following the hike in customs duties on imports from 13 to 46%, in October 1929. Between year-end of 1929 and 1930 the total number of drugs produced locally increased from 163 to 226 (39%), and imported specialities raised from 657 to 999 (52%). In 1936, the Turkish government moved towards the protection of the national pharmaceutical industry.

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