How do you verify a specialist?

Asking which specialty title a physician holds and who will carry out the procedure are requests for information that the Turkish Patient Rights Regulation provides for.¹ Asking for that information is not, however, the same as querying another physician's Ministry record directly over the internet.² This article covers what titles and certificates show, the limits of the online services, and which points can be clarified in the consultation.

Is "aesthetic surgery" a separate specialty?

Schedule Ek-1 of Law no. 1219, which lists the specialties recognised in Turkey, contains no separate principal specialty named "Aesthetic Surgery"; the full name of the relevant field is "Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery".³ When you encounter the phrase "aesthetic surgeon", therefore, the full official title the physician holds is what needs to be established.^1,3 Rather than deciding from a shortened description whether a title has been earned, the name of the field on the certificate can be asked for.¹

Article 10 of the law prohibits announcing education and specialty titles that have not been properly obtained, or descriptions that do not correspond to the facts.³ What is under scrutiny there is whether the name a person presents themselves under matches the title they actually hold.³ Knowing the full name of a specialty is where that comparison starts.

It should not be concluded from this, however, that only this specialty may perform every aesthetic procedure.⁴ The regulation governing private outpatient diagnosis and treatment facilities ties the aesthetic and cosmetic services within its scope to the competences physicians have acquired through their training curriculum or through a certificate, and to the medical practices permitted at the facility they work in.⁴ "Certificate" here is defined in article 4(1)(j) of the same regulation as a certificate registered under the Ministry of Health Regulation on Certified Training.⁴ Verifying a title and explaining the basis of authority for a particular procedure are therefore separate questions.⁴ When you are shown a certificate, establish separately which title it evidences and what it is being relied on for in respect of the proposed procedure.

Is a specialty certificate the same as a competence certificate?

A specialty title and a training or assessment certificate are not interchangeable; the Regulation on Promotion and Information Activities prohibits generating a certificate-based specialty title outside the principal and subspecialty fields set out in Law no. 1219.⁵ This distinction does not mean that all certificates are worthless; it requires naming correctly what a certificate assesses.^5,6

In the Turkish Medical Association's institutional publication explaining the competence system, the Ministry of Health's Medical Specialty Board and the medical specialty competence boards are treated as separate structures.⁶ The competence boards are described as examining specialist physicians' professional knowledge and practice, issuing the Medical Specialty Competence Certificate, and encouraging participation in continuing professional development programmes.⁶ In the comparison table in the same publication, granting authorisation to provide specialty training, and suspending it where necessary, is shown as belonging to the Medical Specialty Board, while accreditation appears in the competence boards' column.⁶ The table separates the process as mandatory for the Medical Specialty Board and voluntary for the competence boards.⁶

A "board" or "competence" certificate should therefore not be read as a new specialty before it is understood which assessment it relates to.^5,6 Nor does the absence of such a certificate on its own mean the specialty title has not been obtained; the voluntary competence process and the statutory specialty title are different things.^5,6

Certificate information: Clause 5(1)(d) of the Promotion Regulation does not only impose a prohibition.⁵ Provided the material falls within the specialty field written on the diploma registered by the Ministry, it also permits reference to training received, to certificates registered by the Ministry, and to the other professional information the clause lists.⁵ The problem is not that a certificate is mentioned, but that it is presented in place of a specialty title that does not exist in the legislation or has not been obtained.⁵ Asking for the full name of the certificate and what it evidences makes that distinction concrete.

What does each online record actually verify?

The Physician Information Bank service on e-Devlet requires identity authentication.⁷ The Ministry of Health's user guide explains that the service is for physicians to view their own personal, education and certificate information.² A user with no medical education record in the system is shown a notice stating that this information is not present.² It cannot, therefore, be presented as a service through which someone who is not a physician can log in with their own e-Devlet account and look up another physician.²

In the search carried out for this article, it was not possible to confirm the operation of a current official service through which a patient can query the specialty registration of physicians nationwide directly by name and surname. This is not a claim that no such service exists anywhere; it records that no search route of confirmed availability can be given here.

The same guide does state that a physician can print their own information using the "Print" button on the screen.² Asking a physician to show their own education record is a route that does not require the patient to search within another person's account.^1,2 This lets you request the information from the physician; it does not give you direct access to look up another physician in the Ministry database.²

When you see a competence certificate, or an entry in a competence list, keep the scope of that document in view as well. Assessment within the voluntary competence system is not the same as a register covering the specialty registration of all physicians.⁶ Competence information should therefore not be substituted for separately establishing the official specialty title.^1,6

How are certificate and facility details checked?

Article 9 of the Patient Rights Regulation provides that, on request, information is given about the identity, duty and title of the personnel who will provide or are providing the service.¹ On that basis you can ask for the physician's specialty title in full and ask which document the answer rests on.¹ Asking to see the specialty certificate, or the physician's own education record, allows the title stated to be compared with the information shown.^1,2

It should not be concluded from the provision on giving identity and title information, however, that a copy of the diploma must be handed over or that all of another person's personnel records can be accessed.¹ Nor is the print function in the Physician Information Bank guide an independent verification service given to patients.² What is being asked for here is that the person explain their title from their own record.

Information visible within the facility can also help with this comparison. The Regulation on Private Outpatient Diagnosis and Treatment Facilities requires all personnel within its scope to wear on the lapel a photographic identity card, approved by the responsible manager, stating name, surname, profession and title.⁴ It further requires a medical centre to display in its waiting room, in digital form, a list of specialist physicians and their working hours approved by the responsible manager.⁴ This last requirement concerns medical centres; it should not be generalised as though the same list existed in the same form in every health facility.⁴

The facility's own documents: In the same regulation, the licence is defined as the document showing the facility's suitability for providing health services, while a medical centre's operating permit sets out the specialties in which patients will be admitted and treated, together with the service units.⁴ So rather than settling for the word "licensed", you can ask under which permit the planned procedure will be carried out at that facility.⁴ This explanation is separate information from the physician's personal title.⁴

If information remains incomplete, an explanation can be requested from the facility's information unit; article 7 of the Patient Rights Regulation governs the right to learn which facility can be used and on what conditions, and obliges facilities to establish an information unit for that purpose.¹ If the scope of the operating permit is unclear, a written request for information can be made to the provincial health directorate that issues it.⁴ This route is not presented as an assurance that all of another physician's personal records will be disclosed.

Do not hesitate to ask in the consultation

Questions about the title and about who will carry out the procedure are not merely reasonable curiosity; they are matters on which the Patient Rights Regulation provides for information to be given.¹ Article 9 covers identity, duty and title; article 15(b) covers by whom, where, in what manner and how the intervention will be performed, and its estimated duration.¹ Clarification of identity and the division of duties can therefore be asked for at the start of the consultation.¹

• Title: Ask which official specialty title the physician holds and which document that rests on.¹
• Experience: Ask about their training in the planned procedure and how many of these procedures they have done; the NHS consultation advice treats these two points together.⁸
• Place and permit: Establish where the procedure will be performed and under which permit it will be carried out at that facility.^1,4
• Who will perform it: Clarify whether the physician you are speaking to is the person who will perform the procedure, and who in the team will take on which role.¹

The question about experience should not be confused with the statutory duty to inform. That the regulation governs identity and title information does not mean the same article obliges a physician to provide the patient with a numerical account of every procedure performed in the past.¹ Nor is the NHS advice about asking after experience used here to turn a particular procedure count into a competence threshold.⁸

If identity, duty and title information is requested but not explained, the information provision required by the regulation has not been fulfilled; in this limited sense, declining to answer is itself a piece of information.¹ No conclusion about a false title, professional inadequacy or the outcome of the procedure follows directly from that situation, however; the article sets no criterion of assessment on those matters.¹ You can ask for information that remains unclear to be explained again.¹

Which statements call for an explanation?

A certificate turning into a title: With a phrase such as "certified specialist in ...", ask which specialty is being asserted and what its counterpart in the law is.^3,5 The limit set by the Promotion Regulation concerns not the mention of a certificate but the use of a separate specialty title on the strength of it.⁵ Do not equate the training and certificate information the same clause permits with the prohibited use of a title.⁵

A promise of a definite result: The NHS states that all cosmetic procedures carry some risk.⁹ The Promotion Regulation prohibits promotion that abuses trust, or exploits a lack of information, by creating the impression that a device, product or service is superior to others.⁵ Where a result is spoken of in definite terms, then, it is worth asking separately for the limits and risks of the procedure to be explained.⁹ Do not read the existence of a title or a certificate as a guarantee of the result you will be given.⁹

Pressure to decide: The NHS also states that time to think should be given after the consultation, and that a person does not have to continue if they do not feel completely comfortable.⁹ Where you encounter an account that hurries you, you can clarify the missing information instead of deciding at the close of the consultation.⁹ The advice here is not a fixed legal waiting period set for Turkey.

An unnamed operator: If it is not known who will carry out the procedure, a facility's general promotion is no substitute for that information; the regulation requires the person who will perform the intervention to be identified.¹ The same regulation also provides for the rights, subject to the procedures set out in the legislation, to choose the personnel, to change the physician managing the treatment, and to request consultation with other physicians.¹ Learning the identity, duty and title makes concrete the information you need in exercising those rights.¹

References

1. Ministry of Health. Patient Rights Regulation. Official Gazette, 1 August 1998, no. 23420. Articles 7, 9 and 15. saglik.gov.tr ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³

2. Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health. Physician Information Bank User Guide. No date is stated on the document. turkiye.gov.tr ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. Republic of Turkey. Law no. 1219 on the Practice of Medicine and its Branches. Official Gazette, 14 April 1928, no. 863. Article 10 and Schedule Ek-1. mevzuat.gov.tr ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Ministry of Health. Regulation on Private Health Facilities Providing Outpatient Diagnosis and Treatment. Official Gazette, 19 April 2025, no. 32875. Articles 4(1)(c), 4(1)(h), 4(1)(j), 6(10), 17(3) and 18(2). saglik.gov.tr ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. Ministry of Health. Regulation on Promotion and Information Activities in Health Services. Official Gazette, 12 November 2025, no. 33075. Articles 5(1)(d) and 5(1)(h). resmigazete.gov.tr ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

6. Turkish Medical Association, Coordination Council of Specialty Associations. UDEK Bulletin, June 2022, Special Issue on Medical Specialty Training. Section "Turkish Medical Association Medical Specialty Competence Boards", pp. 26-29. ttb.org.tr ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

7. Ministry of Health, e-Devlet Gateway. Physician Information Bank service page. turkiye.gov.tr ↩

8. NHS. Choosing who will do your cosmetic procedure. Page last reviewed 23 June 2023. nhs.uk ↩ ↩²

9. NHS. Before you have a cosmetic procedure. Page last reviewed 22 May 2023. nhs.uk ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵