TheCompulsory FinancialResponsibility Insurance Covering Medical Malpractice introduced for doctors underThe FullDayLaw took effect on July 30, 2010. The practice, bringing a 5000 TL fine for the doctors not insured as of this date has brought up an argument amongTurkishMedicalAssociation (TMA), Ministry of Health, Undersecretary of Treasury and insurance companies while several of the insurance companies have started issuing their policies. TMA, claiming that the practice has taken effect before the completion of the preparations, stated that only one of the 30 companies they have been informed about had started selling policies and this policy was not compatiblewith the general principles defined by the Treasury. TMA, getting the assurance from the Ministry of Health that the doctors not insured for at least onemoreweekwould not be subject to any administrative process, has nowstartedworking on the enhancement of assurance provisions to the benefit of the doctors. The demands by TMA Turkish Medical Association (TMA), has send a written statement to the insurance companies, demanding an enhancement in the described minimal conditions to the benefit of the doctors listed under the following items: •Two years long notification period for compensation of the damages following the contract period regarding professional activities realized within the contract period, • The maximum assurance amount of 300 thousand TL, •The judiciary fines coveredwithin the scope of assurance, • The reorganization of cash payment as installments, •The transformation of existingOptional Insurances to compulsory insurances • The clarification that all of the professional activities are covered, considering that the doctors working part time on different jobs will be insured under one policy. The remarks by the industry executives Making a remark on the subjectAnadolu Sigorta General Manager Mustafa Su said: “While the 300 thousandTL. assurance limit seems to be sufficient for the compensation of the damages, it may cause distress for the insurance industry that no limit is set within the policies defining the annual responsibility for the insurer per policy. I think the insurance companies may have trouble in meeting their reassurance requirements. In this policy where damage claims and compensation is spread over a very long redemption period, I don’t believe that there would appear the possibility for accumulation of sufficient premiumtomeet the compensation claims. The cumulated premium may even be insufficient to meet the judicial expenses resulting from the long judiciary process”. Gunes SigortaTechnicalManagementGroup Manager TayfunAltıntaş commented on the compulsory responsibility insurance as follows: “In addition to the problems of reassurance provision resulting from the way the policies are issued, we will also be meeting the cases of having double policies covering the same damage and problems will come out regarding practice. Responsibility Insurances are long term insurances whose consequences are spread over the years; their conclusion takes a long time due to the time required for the emergence of the damage and the long period required for the legal processes for the emerged damage.” Allianz Corporate Insurance Director Kurt Ebik said “Turning the referred insurance to a compulsory one and the standardization of the assurance provisions have realized an expansion to the good of the insured party compared to the assurance coverage provided formerly by the insurance companies.But resulting from the fact that the content and the provisions of the referred product was structured in a short period, we believe that there are aspects open to revision.”