Medical Tourism

Health tourism is when people leave their home country and travel to a foreign country in order to receive health services or to meet different health-related needs.

Health tourists visit institutions that offer services such as hospitals, clinics, health centers or spa facilities in the country they are visiting. Medical tourism can take place for many different reasons. Patients do it to get healthcare services at a more affordable price or to gain access to a specialized doctor for quality treatment. The advantages of medical tourism include faster appointment booking, better service quality, less waiting time and lower costs.

What are the Advantages of Health Tourism?

Health tourism enables patients to access health services quickly without long waiting times. Especially in some countries, it can take a long time to get an appointment and start treatment due to the intensity of public health services. Health tourism has the power to reduce such delays.

Health tourism destinations usually include health facilities that meet international standards. Therefore, patients can be assured of quality and reliable healthcare services. They can meet their expectations with health centers that offer specialist doctors, modern medical equipment and state-of-the-art treatment methods.

In some countries, health services are more affordable than in others. In this respect, health tourism can be an attractive option for those who want to reduce treatment costs. It may be possible to get the same quality service at more affordable prices.

Medical tourism also provides medical tourists with the opportunity to offer personalized treatment plans. Patients can create a treatment plan that suits their needs and preferences. This helps the treatment process to be more effective and finalized.

Patients who receive treatment within the scope of health tourism also have the opportunity to visit impressive and pleasant holiday destinations to rest and recover after treatment. Combining treatment with a vacation can reduce the stress of the treatment and boost morale.

Health tourism destinations are often multilingual regions. This mimimizes the problem of miscommunication for foreign patients, i.e. health tourists. The ability to communicate in English or other common languages facilitates the patient-doctor relationship.

What are the Types of Health Tourism?

Health tourism is a broad concept that includes different types of health services. They are mostly defined under the following 3 headings:

• Medical tourism
• Thermal tourism
• Elderly and disabled tourism

Medical tourism involves patients traveling abroad for surgical interventions, organ transplant operations, oncological treatments, dental treatments and other medical procedures. They may also travel for plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures.

Elderly and disabled tourism is a type of tourism that makes travel experiences more accessible and comfortable for adults and people with disabilities. It aims to promote the freedom to travel and participation of people belonging to this group. It includes specially designed vehicles to enable older people and people with disabilities to travel comfortably and specially planned facilities to make their stay comfortable. For example, disabled-friendly buses, wheelchair ramps, special equipment such as hearing aids are used.

Health Tourism in Turkey

Turkey has become an important destination for health tourism in recent years. The country offers an attractive option for health tourists with its medical infrastructure, experienced doctors and accredited modern health facilities. In terms of medical infrastructure and technology, Turkey is characterized by providing healthcare services in line with international standards.

Hospitals in Turkey offer patients high-quality treatment options. Specializing in areas such as plastic surgery, eye surgeries, dental treatments and cardiac surgery, the doctors also have international recognition. This is one of the important reasons that lead foreign patients to choose Turkey for specialized medical care and surgical interventions.

Another advantage of Turkey in health tourism is its low treatment costs. It is possible to receive high quality health services at more affordable prices than in many other countries. This is an attractive option for people struggling with diseases that have high treatment costs in their home country.

Turkey is also an ideal destination for thermal and spa tourism. There are resort areas with thermal waters and spa facilities in various parts of the country. This is an attractive option for both health and leisure travelers. Geographical location, historical and cultural richness also support health tourism. Health tourists can combine their treatment processes with various excursions in many cities. Large cities such as Istanbul, Antalya and Izmir offer both qualified medical treatment and unique touristic experiences.