The Ministry of Health has implemented the Health Transformation Program to ensure more efficient and
effective access to healthcare services in Turkey.
One of the program’s most significant initiatives is the Centralized Doctor Appointment System (CDAS).
CDAS allows citizens to book appointments with hospitals, oral and dental health centers, and family physicians through the ALO 182 hotline,
website, or mobile application. CDAS is recognized as one of the 20 essential public services acknowledged by the EU.
CDAS centralizes the previously fragmented appointment systems of public hospitals.
It also claims to be the first and only system in the world that manages the appointment systems of public hospitals from a single center.
CDAS provides service with 99.6% accessibility via call centers, online platforms,
and mobile applications, contributing to the development of new health policies through collected appointment data.
The Centralized Doctor Appointment System, together with its employees, has adopted the principle of facilitating citizens' access to health services and contributing to service delivery by transforming technological opportunities into an effective public service. It targets citizen satisfaction by providing universal quality appointment services to hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health.
The Centralized Doctor Appointment System aims to be a reliable, continuous and reputable public service among its country, healthcare institutions, healthcare professionals, citizens and solution partners. Suggestions, requests, opinions and complaints are evaluated immediately. It strives to further its vision of being an exemplary public service with its developing health information technologies and solution-oriented approach.
The main purpose of CDAS is to provide a calmer and more peaceful environment for everyone by eliminating the waiting time before examination in hospitals, reducing crowds in front of hospitals and polyclinics. The goal is for citizens to manage their time effectively. To increase the efficiency and quality of health services by measuring resource utilization and allocation in hospitals and to help develop health policies through CDAS data. To ensure the effective use of physician workforce in hospitals.
The Centralized Doctor Appointment System (CDAS) was launched in 2010 with the aim of reducing waiting times before medical examinations and congestion in front of outpatient clinics, enabling citizens to manage their time properly and ensuring effective use of the physician workforce in hospitals.
CDAS, an important part of the health transformation program, was launched as a pilot scheme in Erzurum and Kayseri with 140 call center staff. The second appointment channel of CDAS, which was put into service in July 2011, was the web portal. Citizens who create an online membership can view existing appointments and perform their own transactions through the same system infrastructure as the operators.
In 2012, all public hospitals in 81 provinces were included in the project, making it the largest public call center covering the whole of Turkey. Call centers were opened in various provinces of Turkey and this service was expanded over time.
In 2013, CDAS developed its own mobile application by adapting quickly and in a short time to the developing mobile technologies and available to citizens. This appointment channel, which provides medical examination appointments through the same system infrastructure as other appointment channels, has brought medical examination appointments to citizens' mobile phones and continuously improved its technology and utilization rates.
In May 2017, CDAS was awarded the first prize in the EMEA (Europe, Central Asia and Africa) region in the “Best Outsourcing Partnership” category at the Contact Center World Awards held in London, where the world's best call centers compete. In May 2018, CDAS received the first prize in the EMEA region in the “Best Self-Service Technology” category for its mobile application.
CDAS, which has a vision of exemplary public service with changing and developing health information technologies, has started to provide services in world languages in addition to its native language on the web and mobile application.
At the same time, services such as e-Government login option, appointment retrieval, appointment request application, appointment reminder via SMS, e-mail and IVR (Voice Response System) and alternative hospital appointment application have been added on the web and mobile to facilitate citizens' appointment procedures.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, which started in 2019 and affected the whole world, the infrastructure of CDAS was utilized to provide controlled health services, remote examination (Video Examination) and vaccination program.