Medical tourism in Turkey: popular destinations, benefits and innovative treatment methods

Turkey is a multipurpose country that offers tourists not only excellent leisure options, but also quality medical care. Turkey is currently one of the best countries for medical tourism among patients. Due to the level of development in the field of health, Turkey is among the ten most popular countries for diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

The countries of Europe and the CIS recognize Turkey as their new health partner and center for medical tourism. Turkey offers quality and affordable medical travel packages for patients. The country perfectly combines treatment and thermal tourism, spas and wellness centers with five-star hotels.

The main advantages of treatment in Turkey

Medical tourists highlight the following advantages of treatment in Turkey:

• JCI-accredited hospitals

The quality of service of many hospitals in Turkey is confirmed by world renowned accreditation bodies. More than 50 Turkish clinics are accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI).

JCI accreditation is the process of assessing a healthcare facility’s compliance with established and internationally recognized standards. The goal is to improve the quality of patient care and medical care. Turkish hospitals rank second in the world accredited by this organization.

• Work during the quarantine

Turkey did not close entry to the country during the coronavirus pandemic. Foreign patients still had access to the treatment in case of compliance with quarantine rules. At the time of writing the article, one of the following documents must be provided to enter Turkey:

• COVID-19 vaccination certificate (14 days must pass from the day you receive the second dose);
• A test for coronavirus with a negative result (from the moment of the PCR test, no more than 72 hours should pass, from the rapid antigen test – 48 hours);
• Document on the transferred coronavirus infection (valid for 180 days).

72 hours before visiting Turkey, you need to fill out a special form on the website of the Turkish ministry of health and get the HES code.

All clinics have the necessary conditions to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection. Patients can be assured of a safe stay and treatment even during the quarantine.

• Convenient geographical location

Due to its unique and convenient geographical position, Turkey is the crossroads of two continents bordering Europe, Asia and Central Asia. It can be easily and quickly visited with direct flights from most countries. Turkey is available to many countries in the world without the need for a visa. This makes the country even more popular with patients from all over the world.

• Affordable prices

The cost of medical services in Turkey is 30-40% lower than in Europe, the USA or Israel. At the same time the quality of medical care remains at a high level. There are favorable service packages and convenient price offers. Package discounts are available for patients, which include everything except the ticket for a plane.

• Highest level of service

Foreign patients are provided with:

• Transfer from airport;
• Accommodation at the hotel until the need for inpatient treatment;
• Accommodation of relatives for the period of treatment;
• 24-hour translator;
• Assistance in preparing all the necessary documents in the native and Turkish languages;
• Comfortable rooms with all conveniences.

• Experienced staff

The best hospitals in Turkey have experienced medical staff and specialists who have performed thousands of operations. All doctors have professional liability insurance. All procedures and coordination related to health tourism are controlled by the Ministry of Health in accordance with the law.

Many leading doctors have internship and work experience in Europe and the USA. Specialists of such popular areas in Turkey as plastic surgery, oncology, radiology, transplantology and aesthetic medicine are known for their professionalism far beyond the borders of the country.

• Available registered drugs

Patients from the CIS countries often face the problem of lack of necessary medicines at their native countries. In Turkey significantly more drugs are registered. Usually they are needed for immune and targeted therapy, for the treatment of rare diseases that are not common in the CIS countries. Specialists have the opportunity to select a medicine for each patient individually. At the same time, they take into account all the features of a particular disease.

• Modern equipment and innovative treatment technologies

Private, public and university hospitals, especially in Istanbul and Ankara, are equipped with modern diagnostic and treatment equipment. Many hospitals in Turkey provide high-tech medical services in the field of oncological treatment, cardiovascular surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, pediatric surgery, aesthetic, dental surgery, and microsurgery.

• A combination of relaxation and treatment

Turkey is an ideal option for health improvement with a pleasant stay. After the necessary course of treatment, rehabilitation and recovery there is an opportunity to have a good rest. Patients can take a variety of excursions, see traditional attractions or simply spend time by the sea.

The most popular medical destinations in Turkey

Most often medical tourists go to Turkey for the treatment of cancer, bone marrow transplantation, organ transplantation, and microsurgical interventions. Plastic and aesthetic surgery is very popular among both women and men. The areas of neurosurgery, cardiology, dentistry, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics and traumatology are no less in demand.

Plastic surgery in Turkey: years of experience and modern treatment methods

Turkey ranks seventh in the world for aesthetic tourism. Plastic surgeons of Turkish clinics have experience in Europe and the USA. They are rapidly advancing in the field of plastic surgery.

Experts note that the most often performed are aesthetic operations on the nose (rhinoplasty) and breast (mammoplasty). Men mainly come to Turkey for hair transplants, breast reduction and dental treatment. Women prefer facelift surgeries, rhinoplasty and liposuction.

Hair transplant

Hair loss (alopecia) is the transformation of long terminal hair into thin and weak vellus hair. There are many reasons for this transformation: stress, heredity and hormonal disorders.

Hair transplantation is a painless aesthetic surgery performed to restore hair growth in areas where there is none. The doctor removes hair follicles from areas with thin hair and transfers them to the area where thinning or balding occurs. Donor hair follicles are mainly taken from the back of the head.

There are two main hair transplantation methods used in Turkey: DHI (direct hair implantation) and FUE (follicular unit extraction). The difference is in the way of collecting hair follicles. The choice of a suitable method is determined individually.

Liposuction

Liposuction (vacuum fat removal) is an operation of removing excess fat accumulated locally using a vacuum. It is used by plastic surgeons to reduce and remove excess fat anywhere in the body.

In Turkish clinics patients are offered the innovative Hi Def (high-definition) liposuction method. While excess adipose tissue is removed from one part of the body, it is used to build muscle elsewhere. The technology is often used for:

• Build abdominal muscles;
• Creation the border of the latissimus dorsi;
• Revealing grooves for the waist and back;
• Revealing the line of the pectoral muscles;
• Elimination of excess fat deposits on the sides and definition of the pectoral muscles.

This surgical method is suitable for women and men with tight skin. It is not suitable for patients with sagging skin who have gained or lost a lot of weight.

Facelift 

A popular among patients non-surgical facelift procedure using the Spider Web method. With its help, age-related changes in the face are eliminated. Main advantages:

• The procedure is carried out in a very short time;
• Performed without incision, leaves no scars;
• Immediately after the procedure, you can return to your daily lifestyle;
• Medical self-absorbable threads are used;
• Supports collagen production in the skin;
• No complications and side effects after the procedure.

No less popular operations among medical tourists in Turkey in the field of plastic surgery are:

• Blepharoplasty;
• Rhinoplasty;
• Otoplasty;
• Breast augmentation;
• Breast reconstruction;
• Abdominoplasty;
• Enlargement of the buttocks.

Innovative methods of transplantation in Turkey

Over the past 30 years, the greatest progress in medicine has been observed in the field of organ transplantation. Turkey is known among foreign patients for its great opportunities in the field of transplantation.

Transplants from both related and unrelated donors are performed here. Cross-transplantation is possible according to the domino principle. Doctors transplant several organs at once to one patient (for example, kidney and liver). Pediatric transplantology is well developed.

Turkish doctors perform face and scalp transplants. It is performed in order to restore the function of damaged tissue and improve the quality of human’s life. A face transplant is not an aesthetic surgery. As a result of facial trauma and loss of sensation, such patients can have a natural appearance and regain lost sensory functions. With this method of treatment, skin, nerves, bones and muscles are transplanted from the donor to the desired area of ​​the patient.

Modern methods of cancer treatment in Turkish clinics

In Turkish medical centers doctors carry out cancer treatment according to modern NCCN protocols. The clinics are equipped with modern equipment and specialists use innovative methods of treating cancer. Some hospitals are included in the TOP of the most technologically advanced in the world from Top Master’s in Healthcare Administration.

Great contribution of the country to the development of hematology oncology. There is a bone marrow donor base in Turkey. This enables the patient to receive the desired operation from an unrelated donor and in the shortest possible time. The country’s leading oncohematologists have more than 20 years of experience and more than 1 000 bone marrow transplants.

Modern methods of diagnosing cancer in Turkish clinics:

• Check-up – an individually selected package of examinations for early diagnosis of a disease (both oncology and non-oncological nature);
• Scintigraphy is a radiation diagnostic method, the most informative in the case of bone metastasis;
• Liquid biopsy of CTC (circulating tumor cells) – determination of cancer cells circulating in the blood or free flowing particles of tumor DNA;
• Computed tomography is a radiation method that provides information about the location, size of the tumor, metastases to other organs;
• PET-CT is a more informative method for detecting tumors from 2 mm in size and metastases in places that are difficult to reach for conventional CT;
• 3 Tesla MRI is a high-precision machine that allows the doctor to obtain a higher resolution image much quicker.

Most often, medical tourists choose Turkey for treatment:

• Brain tumors;
• Spinal cord and spine neoplasms;
• Malignant blood diseases;
• Breast cancer;
• Lung neoplasms;
• Tumors of the digestive tract;
• Prostate cancer.

Doctors select the method of cancer treatment individually for each patient. At the same time, they take into account the type and size of the tumor, its location, the presence of metastases, and the characteristics of the body’s response to therapy.

The main methods of treating malignant neoplasms:

Radiation therapy

A method of affecting the tumor with large doses of ionizing radiation. The advantages are non-invasiveness and long-term remission.

There are different options for radiation therapy:

• With the latest generation of linear accelerators Versa HD, TrueBeam STX is a gentle procedure that takes about two minutes;
• Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) – visualization and recording of changes in the position and coordinates of the patient is performed, which makes it possible to minimize some mistakes during the operation;
• Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is a 3D therapy method that allows for higher and more effective doses.

Radiosurgery

• Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) – used to treat pronounced and usually small tumors under visual guidance;
• Gamma Knife – this device allows doctor to deliver high doses of radiation exactly to the tumor in one application;
• CyberKnife is a robotic radiosurgery system for cancer treatment. Thanks to this system, high doses of radiation are used locally. Normal tissues are protected from the effects of radiation.

Surgery

Surgeons in Turkish clinics perform endoscopic operations (without incisions), laparoscopy (through small punctures in the body) and open surgery (one incision up to 20 cm). To achieve greater accuracy and fewer complications, doctors use the Da Vinci robot. The doctor controls the installation using a special control panel. This technology reduces trauma during surgery (incisions up to 2 cm) and shortens the postoperative period.

Medication methods

• Chemotherapy – using the drugs intravenously, by mouth, or regionally (injection into an artery) to affect the tumor;
• Targeted therapy is the action of a drug on specific genes and proteins in cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue;
• Immunotherapy is the activation of the human immune system to fight cancer.

General Surgery: benefits of Turkish hospitals and main focus areas

Neurosurgery, cardiology, microsurgery, urology, orthopedics and traumatology, obstetrics and gynecology, gastroenterology are no less popular destinations for medical tourism in Turkey.

Doctors in Turkey use modern developments and collaborate with neurosurgeons from the United States (Johns Hopkins hospital). They have experience in performing microscopic operations to remove tumors of the brain and spinal cord, arteriovenous malformations and other defects of vessels.

In the departments of ophthalmology, many multidisciplinary hospitals in Turkey specialize in the treatment of eye diseases:

• Cataract;
• Strabismus;
• Myopia;
• Myopathy;
• Retinal dystrophy;
• Glaucoma.

Cardiac surgeons in Turkish clinics carry out the installation of a pacemaker, valve replacement, coronary artery bypass grafting, and fibrillation treatment using the MAZE method. The advantage is a high patient survival rate. Doctors use modern prostheses and pacemakers that meet international requirements. For doctors in Turkey, the option of bypass surgery using the Da Vinci robot is available.

The cost of medical services in Turkey clinics

The formation of the final price for a course of treatment depends on the methods chosen by the doctor for diagnosis and treatment. Doctor studies each case in detail and prescribes the necessary treatment plan for a particular patient. Therefore, with the same diagnoses, the price may be different, depending on the severity of the disease, the patient’s age and concomitant diseases.

Examples of prices for the most popular medical services in Turkish clinics:

• Specialist consultation – from $120;
• Targeted therapy (drugs) – from $3 000;
• Hair transplant – from $3 000;
• Liposuction – from $3 300;
• Rhinoplasty – from $3 600;
• Facelift (facelift) – from $5 000;
• CyberKnife / Gamma Knife – from $8 000;
• Prostatectomy with Da Vinci robot – from $16 600;
• Heart valve replacement – from $18 000;
• Bone marrow transplant – from $40 000.

For consultation, diagnosis and treatment, leave a request on the MedTour website. The coordinating doctor will contact you and help you choose the best clinic and clarify the cost of therapy.