Cancer patient’s medication to be covered by Social Security in Turkey
A.U., a male patient living in Adana who has been battling kidney cancer for 5 years, could not afford the cancer drug Opdivo, which he needs to take three doses of per month for his treatment.
Through his lawyer, Büşra Kanat, he filed a lawsuit on June 5, 2024, requesting the annulment of the institution’s decision and asking that the medication be provided free of charge by the Social Security Institution (SGK).
In a preliminary ruling, the court judge decided that the medication should be provided by SGK without interruption and in full.
The ruling stated that the request was made based on the plaintiff’s necessity to use the drug “Opdivo,” which contains the active ingredient nivolumab, due to his current illness, and that SGK would be required to cover the cost of this medication as a precaution.
