ISTANBUL: Medical tourism has become a booming sector in Turkey with 700,000 people visiting the country last year, head of Istanbul International Health Tourism Association (ISTUSAD) said.
“Many people come to Turkey due to the cost, quality, waiting period and facilities [in the healthcare sector],” Emre Ali Kodan told Anadolu Agency. In 2008, Turkey hosted 75,000 visitors for medical tourism. The figure has increased tenfold in 10 years, he noted.
“We expect 850,000 visitors for medical tourism in 2018, [the figure] may approach a million.” Turkey provides better quality treatment at lower costs when compared to Europe, the US and other western countries. Some surgeries are 90 percent cheaper than other countries. “The cost of angiography is $47,000 in the US, $13,000 in Singapore, $11,000 in India and $10,000 in Thailand, while $5,000 in Turkey,” Kodan said.
Similarly, the cardiac valve surgery is $150,000 in the US and $17,000 in Turkey, he added. He highlighted that in Turkey patients’ waiting time was a maximum of two weeks excluding transplantation, but this process could reach 18 months in western countries. Visitors come to Turkey mostly from Europe, Russia, Turkic Republics and Gulf countries, and they usually choose Istanbul, Mediterranean resort city Antalya and the capital Ankara, Kodan said.
A piece published earlier: Iran and Pakistan have tremendous potential for medical tourism as the people of Pakistan can greatly benefit from Iranian health facilities, which would also help in strengthening ties between the two brotherly Muslim countries. Medical tourism refers to people traveling to a country other than their own to obtain medical treatment. Iran is gradually becoming a destination for foreign medical tourists as hospitals in Iranian cities offer medical and healthcare services for foreign patients. Patients from Kuwait, Qatar and other countries prefer Iran for the medical treatment which is providing inexpensive facilities than European countries. Iran is one of the major tourist destinations in the world and the tourists coming to Iran can also become a major source for informing the people of their countries about the advance health facilities of Iran. Earlier many Pakistanis used to travel to India for medical treatment especially related to kidney and liver diseases but after the deteriorating ties between the two countries, India imposed an unannounced ban on Pakistani travelers. However, Iran with its large medical facility network can easily replace India for Pakistani patients and can also help in further enhancing bilateral ties. The demand for Iranian healthcare services is also skyrocketing. They had nearly 30,000 foreign patients in 2012 and this has gone up to almost 200,000 in 2015 and the number will further increase in coming years. (Published on 30th June 2018, Islamabad)
