The initiative is a joint venture by one of Turkey's mobile phone operators and a mobile health (mHealth) provider. Smartphone customers will be connected by video link from any of the 81 cities covered by the third-generation (3G) service to a call centre, where 20 doctors will take calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Read more: Turkey: Mobile phone video link for on-demand medical advice
“Sixty to 85 per cent of e-government projects either fail completely – where they were never implemented or abandoned quickly after implementation – or were partial failures where critical goals were not achieved,” noticed Altinok. “There is a huge gulf between the rose-tinted hype about technology’s role in the public sector and the actual reality.”
Read more: Turkey: E-govt projects fail due to poor management
At present, the E-Government Gateway includes a total of 21 services as well as information on administrative procedures. Secure transaction is currently provided through electronic signature, mobile electronic signature or password offered to users upon request. Future enhancements will facilitate users to access the portal with smart cards. In addition, the system will be extended to serve additional communication devices like cell phones and Pocket PCs.
In another e-readiness index published in May 2008 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), associated with the London-based magazine The Economist, Turkey was listed in the 43rd slot. In both indexes, Turkey was behind Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Malaysia, South Africa, Bermuda, Estonia, Chile and the United Arab Emirates.
E-Güven, Elektronik Bilgi Güvenligi A.Ş., the first electronic certification service provider in Turkey allowed to operate under the Turkish Electronic Signature Law, promises to fundamentally revise the medium in which many Turks do business. E-signatures provided by such companies as E-Güven also promise to be a significant component in the ongoing plans of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to implement a deeper and more robust e-government.
Read more: Turkey: E-Güven expects explosion in e-signature usage in 2009