Health care tourism in Turkey
Compared with other countries, Turkey has had a rapid improvement in health care tourism in recent years.
Health care tourism has been one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world. It includes such branches as medical tourism, thermal tourism, spa and wellness, age tourism, handicap tourism and sport tourism. Compared with other countries, Turkey has had a rapid improvement in this sector in recent years.
Increasingly, many foreign country citizens prefer Turkey for medical necessities. For health care tourism, Turkey has all the appropriate facilities. Especially Antalya, Ankara and Istanbul have many health care tourism attractions and destinations. Afyonkarahisar city also has many thermal springs. The factors that make Turkey attractive in terms of health care tourism are:
· Large-scale private sector investment in health care. The reorganization of the health system has triggered private health investments.
· Rapid increase in number and variety of hospitals, medical centers, clinics and thermal spas and springs. Today, Turkey has 10 faculties of medicine and thousands of hospitals and medical centers.
· Trained professional staff. Turkey has more than 100,000 qualified medical staff in terms of surgical operations and treatment in all branches.
· Health centers equipped with the latest technology in the field of medicine.
· Price advantage. For example, in the U.S., a bypass surgery costs about $129,000. The same surgery costs about $11,000 to $15,000 in Turkey.
For these reasons, Turkey has attracted people in terms of health care tourism. However, some measures should be taken to come to a better point in this issue.
To pave the way for medical tourism, legal regulations should be realized for giving permission to foreign doctors in Turkey. To receive a larger share from global health tourism, foreign doctor employment is inevitable. For the development of health tourism, health of tourist and emergency services must inspire confidence in tourists who come to Turkey.
In terms of health centers and their staff, international accreditation, foreign languages and presentation are essential. Professionals and auxiliary staff who will provide health tourism must be well qualified with no foreign language problems.
In this sense, we cannot say Turkey’s sector is at the desired point. A unit must be formed within the Ministry of Health for the institutionalization of health tourism in our country. This unit can intervene immediately in health tourism’s possible problems and needs.
For health tourism’s improvement, increasing the total number of beds is a basic requirement. Therefore, investment in this area should also be encouraged. On the other hand, investors should be drawn to our country for thermal tourism and the government should grant necessary incentives for it.
It must always be in mind that the most significant investors are in the Middle East. With its climate, infrastructure and hospitality, Turkey is ready to serve Western countries that have aged populations. Besides this, for the Middle Eastern countries, visa facilitation would make Turkey attractive in terms of health tourism. However, these advantages need to be advertised abroad.
If these measures are taken, Turkey can become a top country in the health tourism league in the next few years.
Hurriyet Daily News/25.03.2010
Health care tourism has been one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world. It includes such branches as medical tourism, thermal tourism, spa and wellness, age tourism, handicap tourism and sport tourism. Compared with other countries, Turkey has had a rapid improvement in this sector in recent years.
Increasingly, many foreign country citizens prefer Turkey for medical necessities. For health care tourism, Turkey has all the appropriate facilities. Especially Antalya, Ankara and Istanbul have many health care tourism attractions and destinations. Afyonkarahisar city also has many thermal springs. The factors that make Turkey attractive in terms of health care tourism are:
· Large-scale private sector investment in health care. The reorganization of the health system has triggered private health investments.
· Rapid increase in number and variety of hospitals, medical centers, clinics and thermal spas and springs. Today, Turkey has 10 faculties of medicine and thousands of hospitals and medical centers.
· Trained professional staff. Turkey has more than 100,000 qualified medical staff in terms of surgical operations and treatment in all branches.
· Health centers equipped with the latest technology in the field of medicine.
· Price advantage. For example, in the U.S., a bypass surgery costs about $129,000. The same surgery costs about $11,000 to $15,000 in Turkey.
For these reasons, Turkey has attracted people in terms of health care tourism. However, some measures should be taken to come to a better point in this issue.
To pave the way for medical tourism, legal regulations should be realized for giving permission to foreign doctors in Turkey. To receive a larger share from global health tourism, foreign doctor employment is inevitable. For the development of health tourism, health of tourist and emergency services must inspire confidence in tourists who come to Turkey.
In terms of health centers and their staff, international accreditation, foreign languages and presentation are essential. Professionals and auxiliary staff who will provide health tourism must be well qualified with no foreign language problems.
In this sense, we cannot say Turkey’s sector is at the desired point. A unit must be formed within the Ministry of Health for the institutionalization of health tourism in our country. This unit can intervene immediately in health tourism’s possible problems and needs.
For health tourism’s improvement, increasing the total number of beds is a basic requirement. Therefore, investment in this area should also be encouraged. On the other hand, investors should be drawn to our country for thermal tourism and the government should grant necessary incentives for it.
It must always be in mind that the most significant investors are in the Middle East. With its climate, infrastructure and hospitality, Turkey is ready to serve Western countries that have aged populations. Besides this, for the Middle Eastern countries, visa facilitation would make Turkey attractive in terms of health tourism. However, these advantages need to be advertised abroad.
If these measures are taken, Turkey can become a top country in the health tourism league in the next few years.
Hurriyet Daily News/25.03.2010
