ANTALYA - Millons of tourists rush to Turkey ever year, and not all of
them are choosing the country for its bright sun, long beaches, hospitable
people and fairly economic travel deals. For a growing number of tourists,
medical procedures are the main reason why they travel, and Turkey is looking to
up its game and cash in on the growing demand ’health tourists’
Turkey is increasingly interested in health tourism and ready to tap into a
relatively new travel sector, worth about $100 billion globally.
Every year, around 100,000 tourists come to Turkey to have medical procedures
done, bringing in about $5 million G far below the real potential, according to
Dr. Dursun Aydin.
"We are talking about the movement of 780 million people from one country to
another every year", said Aydin, chairman of the Heath Tourism Development
Association. "Although we have great potential to explore health tourism, the
percentage we have of the world pie is less than 1 percent."
Although government officials agree more can be done to do to promote health
tourism, they are more optimistic. Gül Soydan, coordinator for Turkish health
tourism, claims the country is seven or eight years ahead of its rivals.
On top of its general tourism attractions G the natural beauty, historic sites,
and holiday facilities G Turkey has also several natural thermal sources, an
important asset for health tourism. But what really gives Turkey an advantage
over other countries are its medical expertise and reasonable pricing policy.
"Turkey has made significant progress, especially in eye surgery and in hair
transplants," Aydin said. "The high technology plays an important role in the
preferences of foreign patients."
Separate department
At Medical Park Antalya Hospital, which has allocated a separate department for
health tourism, the most popular branches for foreign patients are "organ- and
stem-cell transplantation, medical and radiation oncology, dentistry,
orthopedics, brain surgery, plastic and aesthetic surgery and eye diseases,"
said Eylem B. Bucak, who is responsible for the hospital’s corporate
communications. ,
The health tourism department comprises 10 doctors with expertise in different
fields. The hospital not only offers health care but also coordinates the
screening, the flights to Turkey, accommodation for the duration of treatment
and post-op medical safeguards. Bucak said Medical Park works in collaboration
with many international health centers, which enables the hospital to reach
important benchmarking reports, and to be represented at reputable medical fairs
and conventions.
"We performed an ophthalmologic treatment on a foreign patient a short time
ago," Bucak says. "The treatment cost amounted to $10,000. This is quite
reasonable when compared to many European countries."
Reasonable prices also helped Kauls Osterhagen decide to have his tumor
operation at Antalya Anadolu Hospital. "The total medical costs are much less
than those in Europe, " said Osterhagen, who said Turkey has almost become a
second home country since he started coming here for holiday every year.
"The medical staff is quite experienced, and uses the highest technology," he
said. "I have already recovered, and now am having a holiday in one of the best
hotels in the city. I can also spend a few weeks touring the beaches of Turkey,
which are sunny even in the middle of December. I could never find this
opportunity back in Germany."
Though the prices for foreign patients are 15 percent higher than those for the
domestic patients to pay for the marketing, "Turkey still has a competitive
pricing policy when compared to many other countries", said country coordinator
Gül Soydan. Some competitors, like India, do have lower prices than Turkey
today. But Osterhagen, for one, has no intention of going to India for his
open-heart surgery next year. He will be coming back to Turkey.
German patients are the most likely to seek health services in Turkey, according
to Soydan, followed by American, Dutch, English and Japanese ones. Some health
tourism also involves health care for the elderly, for which the highest demand
comes from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, Aydin said.
Extending their stay
The benefits of health tourism go both ways, obviously. It offers the
tourist/patient a reasonable price and benefits the host country by creating
revenue. "While people can postpone many other needs at a time of economic
crisis, health is not one of these needs, so should be met whenever it arises,"
Aydin said. "While an economic crisis has hit the world economy, we can overcome
the hardships by further developing health tourism."
The sector also provides jobs in many other sub-sectors, including health
insurance, accommodation and brokerage services, employing thousands of people
total, Soydan said. "The health sector is the only sector that the current
economic crisis has not negatively affected."
Health tourism is also beneficial to the economy because it lasts throughout the
year. "Tourism in Turkey is stuck in four months," said Aydin. "We should try to
extend the tourism season to all 12 months, and health tourism is a good way to
do that."
From spas to springs, medical tourism rising
"Medical tourism," also called "health tourism" or "global healthcare," is a
term used to describe the rapidly developing practice of traveling across
international borders to benefit from healthcare offered in another country.
First conjuring up images of spa centers and thermal springs, the practice also
includes plastic and aesthetic surgery, hair transplantation, eye surgery,
in-vitro fertilization, open-heart surgery, skin diseases, check-ups, cancer
treatments, head and neck surgery, dialysis and cardiovascular surgery,
gynecology, tumor operations, brain surgery, orthopedics, dentistry and many
other treatments.
As a way of merging a holiday with medical treatment on a reasonable budget, the
practice has been gaining popularity across the world. Most patients prefer
packages that include treatment, holiday, accommodation and transportation all
in one, giving the foreign tourists the chance to be treated either at a seaside
resort or in a bigger city, thus learning about the country’s culture,
historical values and diet and getting to know some of its people.
