The health tourism industry in Turkey

Residents in less-developed nations, where certain specialist therapies for particular diseases are not yet available, are more likely to recommend health or medical tourism. They fly overseas to get the necessary care. However, the trend is changing, with more developing countries preferring lower-cost, higher-quality medical care with shorter lead times (or no waiting times in many cases).

Some factors contributing to the success of this popularity include:

    • More affordable care without losing service efficiency

    • There is no need to wait for an appointment for elective surgery or operations.

    • People who are traveling away from their home country benefit from having less questions to answer and reasons to offer to family and friends.

Istanbul for Medical Tourism

Turkey is one of the top 17 most popular medical tourism destinations in the world today. In 2018, 700,000 international visitors came to Turkey solely to take advantage of the country’s outstanding medical education and care facilities. Medical tourists account for 32% of all patients in the world!

The following are some of the reasons for Turkey’s popularity:

The nation has a well priced healthcare infrastructure.

It has the most hospitals that are JCI accredited.

Most physicians who have completed their training in Europe and America prefer to practice and complete their residency in Turkey.

If these aren’t compelling enough reasons for you to recommend Turkey for medical tourism, here are a few more:

Turkey stands as a crossroads between the East and the West

Turkey is known as the “Gateway to the East” and the “Gateway to the West.” Its location is readily accessible regardless of continent or nation of origin. It has also long been a major economic, educational, and political hub.

Istanbul Airport in Turkey is also regarded as one of the world’s best. Once completed in the later part of 2020, it will cater for and handle approximately 200 million passengers each year, including approximately 300 daily flights worldwide.

Surgeries are affordable in Turkey

In general, operations in Turkey can be up to 90% cheaper, and 67% of people who go overseas do this for private hospital care. This speaks volumes about how inexpensive their medical offers are. Cosmetic surgery in Turkey is also 70% less expensive than in the rest of Europe. You get to save more money without losing the efficiency of the care you want.

Furthermore, airlines have a limited discount for medical travelers. If you add up the cost of your treatment, flights, and accommodation, it would always be less than the cost of doing the same surgery in most Western countries, so why not take a vacation at the same time?

Diversity of the treatments in Turkey

Although certain countries are well-known for certain methods of care, Turkey is not one of them. People from all over the world travel to Turkey for a variety of causes, including hair transplants, plastic surgery, check-ups, cancer therapy, dental care, low-cost in-vitro fertilization (IVF), and more. 

Quality of surgeons and hospitals in Turkey

The uniqueness of Turkey’s medical industry is how the government works to improve and upgrade the country’s health system, holding it at the top of the industry. The government uses a PPP model (private-public partnership) to develop the country’s healthcare system, and private hospitals invest in their services as well. As previously said, in addition to investment, professionally qualified surgeons want to stay and practice in Turkey, meaning that the standard of treatment is still the highest it can be.