Medical tourism is on the up in Turkey, according to latest figures from its health tourism board, buttressed by an ageing European population looking for alternative remedies to oversubscribed health services back home.
Annually, 130,000 overseas visitors head to Turkey specifically for medical treatments, ranging from dentistry to hip replacements and cosmetic surgery.
President of the board, Dr Dursun Aydin, places Turkey’s offering beyond medical treatments however, pointing to the 250,000 additional health and wellbeing visitors received in areas of retirement services and thermal treatments which prove popular with older populations of visitors and those seeking to enhance rehabilitation time in warmer and more scenic settings.
‘In developed countries, 20 per cent of the population is over the age of 65 and in the coming years this elderly population is expected to increase even more – Turkey is going to become Europe’s new address for elderly care,’ says Aydin.
Aydin attributes growing numbers to the improvements health services have undergone in recent years in order to offer more quality care. Placed against the more expensive treatments and long waiting times in many European visitors’ native countries, ‘Turkey has become an attractive health tourism destination’, he adds.
Source: Hurriyet Daily News
