Health Services for Foreigners: Turkey’s Medical Tourism Industry

By Justin Mays:

The quality and accessibility of Turkish healthcare are high and attract tourists from all over the world. It is considered one of the top ten destinations worldwide for medical tourism. 

As a global hub in 2019, 662.087 patients from abroad received health services, with revenue for medical services reaching millions of dollars.

The pandemic slowed down travel, but the medical industry is quickly bouncing back with goals to serve 2 million patients from all over the world for $20 billion in revenue in 2023.

Why You Should Come to Turkey to Receive Health Services

Foreigners feel very comfortable coming to Turkey, and secondly, hospitality services have sprung up around medical services. 

You can hire medical consultants to inform you of the process, receive quotes from multiple hospitals and help with accommodation for your recovery period. 

Many top hospitals have in-house hosts speaking multiple languages to ease communication problems and VIP hosts to ensure patients are as comfortable as possible.

Please read our blog on health insurance in Turkey to learn about the different types of health insurance and what they cover.

Why Is Turkey Popular Among Medical Tourists?

The most famous in the health sector among medical tourists are the following:

• Cosmetic surgery
• Dentistry
• Fertility
• General surgery
• Gynecology
• Infectious diseases
• Internal diseases
• Medical Biochemistry
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedics
• Otorhinolaryngology
• Traumatology

Holding the seventh position in the world for medical tourism, Turkey is famous globally for its cosmetic procedures. Men and women fly here to get them done. The most famous ones are rhinoplasty, facelifts, and liposuction.

Turkey is also known for its hair transplants. People experiencing alopecia due to diet, health, etc, come to Turkey to get hair transplant surgeries to become more confident.

Turkey ranks as one of the best destinations to acquire health services for foreigners because of the following reasons:

1. Its modern medical technology makes it a preferred destination for medical tourists. The hospitals in Turkey are equipped with everything it takes to provide foreign patients with the most the best treatments.
2. Turkey has professional expert doctors. These include doctors who have practiced in Europe and the United States.
3. The prices for surgeries and other medical procedures are also competitive. The world-class facilities and services you can expect in Turkey can cost approximately 70-90% more than in places like the USA and Europe. This attracts millions of medical tourists annually since they get high-quality services for an affordable price.
4. The speed of services is excellent compared to other counties. The average wait time for a consultation and plan is within two weeks compared to places like the UK, where it can take over a year. 

The quality of care foreigners receive here is on par with western countries but for a fraction of the price.

The high standards are partly because of the government’s use of the Private Public Partnership approach (including university, international and private company affiliations) to hospitals in Turkey. In contrast, the Turkish Ministry of Health owns 55% of Turkey’s 1500+ hospitals. The rest are with the majority of foreign graduated doctors from top-notch institutions abroad and local. 

Over 50 hospitals have the prestigious Joint Commissions International (JCI) international accreditations. In contrast, others have the Joint Commission on Healthcare Organizations Accreditation (JACHO), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and other international medical associations.

Conclusion

According to the Medical Tourism Association, about 14 million people travel to other countries in search of medical care annually. 

As a world leader in medical tourism, you can be assured of getting quality medical care in Turkey.  

There is a reason why Turkey has become a top destination for medical tourism, and owning property here will allow you easy access to some of the most modern, cost-effective healthcare worldwide.