Health Tourism in Turkey for Foreigners

Turkey is famous for medical tourism and aims to get 20 billion $ in the global medical tourism market in the year 2023. Where the number of tourists with the aim of treatment in the world exceeded ten million and their sales volume reached more than 100 billion dollars annually during the last ten years.

Turkey offers a variety of medical treatment services, and this diversity in health services makes Turkey a center of interest and attraction for foreigners and international retirees.

Turkey is the best choice for medical tourism

Turkey’s geographical location, quality of services, good climate, and short distance from most countries, all of this strengthens Turkey’s position in medical tourism.

Among the most important reasons also:

• World-class services.
• Very competitive prices.
• Diverse and customized services.
• Number of accredited health institutions.
• Short waiting time.

These reasons play an important role for tourists who visit the country temporarily and also for those who wish to live in Turkey after retirement.

Turkey is often the first choice for patients due to good prices and high quality. Where we compare Turkey with some developed European and other western countries, we find Turkey more suitable.

For example: IVF treatment in the United States costs between 15-16 thousand dollars, while in Turkey it costs about 2600 dollars. As for open heart surgery, it is 25,000 Euros in European countries, while in Turkey it is about 10,000 dollars.

For medical tourism, institutions must be accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI). There are about 45 accredited health institutions / hospitals in Turkey that are ranked second in the world. Most of these accredited organizations are located in Istanbul. Istanbul is the first in Turkey in both accredited hospitals and the diversity of health services.

Favorite cities for medical tourism in Turkey

Istanbul and Antalya are the main destination for the largest number of patients, and they are among the ten best cities in the world. There are also other Turkish cities famous for medical tourism, such as: Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Mugla and Aydin.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of tourists visiting Istanbul, Antalya and Ankara to perform hair transplants and laser treatment. The number of treatments in Istanbul and Antalya is higher in the fields of eye, dental and aesthetic surgery.

Visitors for medical tourism by country

Medical tourism in Turkey attracts visitors from more than 130 countries including Germany, Russia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Libya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Macedonia.

Since 2012, the number of visitors coming to Turkey has doubled, as foreigners and citizens abroad prefer Turkey more for treatment or medical reasons.

Countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal are traditional places where pensioners migrate. After the first decade of the twentieth century, Turkey began to occupy a position among these countries. Consequently, there is another type of medical tourism that can be called “international retirement” which is expected to take from Turkey a preferred region for it.