Medical tourism in Turkey…a preferred global destination
Turkey tops the list of countries around the world in the field of health tourism and is receiving thousands of people from all over the world who want to obtain the medical and treatment services provided by Turkey. Since 2015 and to this day, Turkey has become one of the first destinations in the field of medical tourism because of its medical staff Expert, advanced health services, and modern technology at low prices compared to the rest of European countries and even the Gulf countries, in addition to its distinguished location between the European and Asian continents, making it an easy-to-reach destination for 1.5 billion people who can travel to Turkey by flight and within a period not exceeding 4 hours.
Turkey offers various medical and cosmetic services that can be thought of with high quality, and hair transplantation or dental and cosmetic operations are at the forefront of these services, and not only at this point but also offers various cosmetic operations to organ transplantation and fertilization in laboratories, ending with the treatment of cancers.
In an interview with Dr. Servet Terziler, President of the Turkish Association for Medical Tourism, the statistics indicate that a large number of organ, kidney, and liver transplants have been performed in Turkey, in addition to cancer treatment and bone marrow transplantation, which are complex operations that are difficult to perform in any country, as well as operations Aesthetics and obesity treatment, and all of this is provided with high quality, guaranteed results, and reasonable prices.
Numbers and facts…
Data and statistics carried out by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) for the year 2022 indicate that more than 285,000 people have received health and treatment care, and it is expected that the income from health tourism will reach about 4 billion dollars.
For the year 2021, a total of 642,444 people visited Turkey with the aim of medical tourism, and the income received from them was about one billion and 48 million dollars.
The Corona pandemic affected various fields and sectors in Turkey, including the field of medical tourism, which declined significantly during the year 2020, but despite that, more than 388,000 patients were received and revenues amounted to 549 million US dollars.
A turning point
The roots of health tourism in Turkey go back to more than a quarter of a century ago. Patients used to go to Turkey intermittently to obtain therapeutic and cosmetic services. In the first of this century, several doctors began to reach the world by making offers to patients and encouraging them to get treatment in Turkey, And the matter remained like this until 2010, and “Terziler” points out that the impressive results that were achieved in the field of hair transplantation led to a real revolution in aesthetic medicine in Turkey, which quickly reached its peak in 2015 and here was the pivotal turning point in the world of tourism health in Turkey.
After the year 2015, thousands and hundreds of thousands of people began to flock to Turkey annually for treatment or to undergo cosmetic operations in the first place, and Istanbul became a global capital in the field of hair transplantation, aesthetics, and health.
Statistical data indicates that most health tourists come from Europe and the Arabian Peninsula, in addition to Canada, the United States of America, North Africa, and Asian countries.
10 billion Target
The Turkish government is heading today to become the first in the world in the field of health tourism and is taking clear and resolute steps to reach revenues of 10 billion during the year 2023, according to President Erdogan’s statement, as global revenues from health tourism amount to about 100 billion dollars, and Turkey’s share to this day has not up to more than 3% of them.
Terziler points out that no obstacle in Turkey hinders reaching the goal set by Erdogan, as Turkey embraces a group of medical cities capable of achieving the desired goals, especially since it has previously achieved good results at the level of public health and medical tourism, and to achieve its goal, The Turkish government, and specifically the Ministry of Commerce, is working to provide support for 14 fields such as translation to consulting, documents, units and centers abroad, all to attract more health tourists around the world.
