Fahrettin Koca

Fahrettin Koca — Biography

Fahrettin Koca is a paediatrician who moved from founding and running health institutions to the post of Turkey's minister of health. He was among the founders of Medipol Hospital, Istanbul Medipol University and the Türkiye Education and Health Research Foundation; he took office as health minister in July 2018, in the first cabinet of the new system of government, and became one of the most widely recognised names in the country during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He finished high school in Bursa. He wanted to study business at Boğaziçi University but entered Istanbul Medical School at his family's wish and graduated in 1988. He finished his specialist training in the Department of Child Health and Diseases at Cerrahpaşa Medical School and qualified as a specialist in 1995. He worked as a doctor and medical director at various institutions, founded Medipol Hospital in 1997 and, as founding president of the foundation, chaired the board of trustees of Medipol University, which opened in 2009. He joined paediatric and private hospital associations and chaired the University Hospitals Association and the health services committee of the services exporters' association.

He was sworn in on 10 July 2018 as Turkey's 59th minister of health. After the 28 May 2023 election he was appointed to the same post again in the new government. He resigned on 2 July 2024 and was replaced by Istanbul Provincial Health Director Kemal Memişoğlu. He is married and has four children.