Hacettepe University is a large and well-established university located in Ankara, Turkey. Recently, a press release was held on its plans to produce morphine pills locally in the near future as well as plans to produce the Hepatitis B vaccine in its production facilities within the next 3 years.

The Dean of the University, Professor Murat Tuncer, said that there are many medicines desperately needed in Turkey and that morphine and the Hepatitis B vaccine are just a couple of them.  Tuncer also mentioned that as society changes it is important for the universities to not only continue education, but to also shift and mold to the needs of the changing society in order to increase effectiveness inside and outside of the classroom. He proceeded to declare that, if all goes well in the first quarter of 2014, the school would be ready to provide morphine pills to its patients.

The Head of the Pharmaceutical Sciences department, Professor Bülent Gümüşel, said that cancer patients in Turkey have to use heavy painkillers due to the fact that they cannot find morphine easily, which is very costly to the national budget. Local production of the drug will help the patients access the painkiller easily and, in turn, help the Turkish economy.

The Dean of the University has informed the public that the university has made the initial connections with the necessary establishments and plans to make the end products ready at the targeted time.

Turkish universities, too, can be on the front-line of disease prevention and the protection of human life. After all, they are educational establishments that can raise funds for research towards saving lives and increasing the quality of life for patients.

In case you’re wondering what the name of the vaccination will be called, the university has decided to simply name it Hacettepe. Although we do not yet know the name that will be given to the morphine pills, isn’t it fitting for the vaccine produced at Hacettepe to be named after its home?

The Turkish write-up can be found at Hurriyet Gazetesi site here.