Türkiye’s annual revenue target in health tourism was announced as US$10 billion by Mehmet Ali Kılıçkaya, the General Manager of International Health Services Inc., affiliated to the Ministry of Health.
Participating at the “Health Tourism Summit” organized by Hürriyet Newspaper at a hotel in Antalya were Antalya Governor Ersin Yazici; Akdeniz University Rector Prof. Dr. Ozlen Ozkan; Antalya Bilim University Rector Prof. Dr. Ismail Yuksel; General Manager of International Health Services Inc. of the Ministry of Health Mehmet Ali Kılıçkaya; Provincial Health Director Opr. Dr. İsmail Başıbüyük; Deputy Secretary General of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Mustafa Gürbüz; Muratpasa Mayor Umit Uysal; President of Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry Davut Cetin; President of the Western Mediterranean Business Association Federation Abdullah Erdogan; President of the Association of the Mediterranean Tourism Erkan Yağcı; Deputy Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism İlknur Selçuk Köken; and Chairman of the Board of Antalya Expo Center Ali Bıdı, as well as many other sectoral representatives.
The summit was held over two sessions, and began with a discussion of the sector’s perspective and development, competence in health tourism documentation, compliance with ethical rules and addressing problems, and the handling of solutions. In the second session, the issues of employment and its development, and reflections on the economy and the tourism sector were among the topics of discussion.
‘NOW, WE ARE PREFERRED BY EVERYONE’
Antalya Governor Ersin Yazıcı began by stating that he did not hear many pleasant stories related to Türkiye in his youth: “We grew up hearing stories that our people always went to Germany, America and England to eliminate health-related problems. Fortunately, today we have Akdeniz University, and now everyone prefers us. We now have a world-class university thanks to the advances in the field of health over the last two decades, and there is much more to come, as the entire health sector, universities and the private sector, and especially our Ministry of Health, are above global standards. This means others will come to us.”
UNDESIRABLE EXAMPLES FROM THE PAST
Expressing that today’s young people are very lucky, Governor Yazıcı continued: “We grew up hearing negative stories on this issue. Hospitals in Germany, the United States, Houston and London were always on our minds. We listened to the stories of statesmen, artists and other people who had surgery, treatment or aesthetic work done there. When our elders working in Germany returned to their homeland with longing, we would hear the words, “No, I will not go to the hospital here, there are problems. I will get treated when I return to Germany.” I don’t think any of our young people are using such words today, and I am very happy about that”.PRAISE TO AKDENİZ UNIVERSITY
Stating that the level to which the Ministry of Health has brought us will continue to rise, Yazıcı said: “We will continue our journey to the top with our universities, and especially through the good examples and practices of our Akdeniz University. I say to our precious young people, you will tell better stories to your children. You will say, ‘We are the young people of the years in which everyone came here for treatment and showed Türkiye as an example, in which people turned to Türkiye to solve their health-related problems.’ We trust ourselves, and we will continue to do so”.
THE BEST PROVINCE FOR TOURISM
Stating that he could talk about the path taken in health for hours, Yazıcı said:
“People from all over the world are coming, and they will continue to come after hearing the phrase ‘They do an operation like this at Akdeniz University’. We are in a city where health and tourism are at a peak at the same time. We are the undisputed capital of tourism, we are the leader in every sense. I fully believe that if we can combine the potentials of health and tourism, we will improve even further and reach figures that make us much more satisfied.”
US$10 BILLION TARGET PER YEAR
Mehmet Ali Kılıçkaya, General Manager of International Health Services Inc., said that based on its strong health infrastructure, Türkiye’s health system passed the test of the COVID period while also continuing to contribute to health tourism, unlike with many countries. He said that the health tourism concept had arrived in Türkiye in the 2000s, stating: “The health sector has grown over the last 10 years, and reached a peak in 2019 with approximately 700,000 health tourists and turnover of over US$1 billion. In 2020, there is a decrease in half with the effect of the pandemic, but a very strong recovery and reversal was seen in 2021. We anticipate that this increase will continue. Türkiye is among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of its manpower quality and modern medical technologies, and is bolstered by its geographical location, affordable treatment costs and cultural similarities with the surrounding region, its natural resources and its climatic advantages provided. We are number one in plastic surgery and hair transplantation in some branches, although we still have a long way to go. International Health Services Inc. has been given the responsibility for bringing Türkiye to the pinnacle in health tourism, and to reach an annual income of US$10 billion.”
US$100 BILLION VOLUME
Mustafa Gürbüz, Deputy Secretary General of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, stated that health tourism can be considered a US$100-billion global sector, emphasizing: “Our country has become one of the top 10 countries in the world due to its geographical advantages. We welcomed some 370,3 health tourism visitors between January and September 2021, raising US$704.3 million in revenues up to September. This indicates a per head expenditure in the sector of approximately US$1,900, although the real uncalculated figure, however, is estimated to be around US$10,000. The most popular treatments are for aesthetics, hair transplantation, heart surgery, orthopedics, oncology and IVF treatment.
FULL VALUE OF HEALTH TOURISM MUST BE GIVEN
Speaking about what should be avoided in health tourism, AU Rector Prof. Dr. Özlenen Özkan, said: “It should not be made cheap, as this would be the greatest threat to health tourism. Some 5 years ago while there were 3, 4 or 5 clinics doing this in Antalya, there are now 100; and when you look at the numbers, the service used to be 10 liras, but has now decreased to 3 liras. So what are the costs in healthcare? The exact opposite. The most costly service is health care, it is the same everywhere in the world. I don’t know why it has to be cheap in Türkiye. When we advertise, we say “We’ll do it cheaper” – this is a wrong approach, and it is dangerous. What is being said ,n England right now is very painful: ‘We should we not send patients to Türkiye. Why? Because serious complications have started to occur. Regulation is needed’.”
PROHIBITIVE LEGISLATION
Prof. Dr. Özkan said that AU Hospital has made a name for itself in its field and is ideally suited to health tourism, but stated: “We are a hospital that can still accommodate health tourism, even when there has been a decline in tourism due to COVID-19, even with our own efforts. However, when we look at International Health Services Inc, there are some regulations that prevent us. We have mentioned this several times, and we have recently met with our Health Minister. The most important point here is that the doctors who provide this health service should be happy, and an environment should be created where they can provide quality service. We’re just going to change the legislation and start. But we didn’t start yet, why? Because according to legislation, ‘For appendicitis surgery or breast cancer, a Turkish patient is required to have ₺1,000 and a foreigner must have ₺3,000’. It doesn’t make sense to have such an obstacle, as there is no such obstacle in the liberal economy in any sector. We say that I will give you the best quality service, why am I being blocked with ₺3?”
THREE BIGGEST OBSTACLES
Rector Özkan, who stated that the second one said, “The doctor can do 10 of these surgeries and cannot do 15 of them”, continued his speech as follows: “Why do we encounter such an obstacle? Thirdly and most importantly, perhaps we cannot invoice the agencies here. If I can’t make an invoice, why would the agency bring me a patient? I am only responsible for patient treatment. As a university, I cannot pick up the patient from the airport and place them in a hotel. There needs to be an agency that can organize these services. I cannot advertise myself and open an office in Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan. An agent is needed. Why would the agent bring me this? To earn money. But if I can’t bill, why would he bring me patients? If these three obstacles can be overcome, I think Antalya will make a big attack in the economy. A legislation that can be resolved between the three of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and YÖK”.
CALL FROM ANTALYA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY TO TURKISH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
Expressing that the growing problems could be easily resolved in one hour by bringing the related institutions and ministries to the table, Davut Çetin, President of the Antalya Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s such a big market, it’s called US$100 billion. US$860 million-US$1 billion received by Türkiye. It has the potential to reach US$10 billion. Almost a quarter of tourism revenues will come from health tourism. We have a brand university hospital, but we cannot market it. One of the most fundamental aspects of this business are agencies; they also need to make the promotion a little bit, when they can’t include it in this business, one side is missing. We also need to support intermediary institutions. If the Turkish Tourism Development Agency provides 100 units of support in Antalya, please leave 25 units of this in Antalya. Tooth, SPA, aesthetics or organ transplant, please leave us alone and let’s introduce ourselves. Every destination has different merits. Destinations should draw their own direction a little bit”.
NON DEFERRABLE HEALTH SERVICE
Provincial Health Director İsmail Başıbüyük stated that they had received complaints about the cost of services in health tourism. Commenting on the question “Why do they prefer us?”, he said that besides providing high quality service, our waiting times are very short. While it may be necessary to wait 2–3 weeks in Europe, one can see more than one doctor a day here, Başıbüyük mentioned the issue of tourist health as an overlooked point. He said that some 25–30 percent of the total population in Europe had applied to the emergency service, Başıbüyük said: “This year, around 9 million tourists came to Antalya, and we need to provide non-deferrable health services to 2–2.5 million of them. Some 25–30 of those who come every year will apply to us for non-deferrable health care. Last year, 850,000 people and 150,000 people who received health services came to our city within the scope of health tourism”.
Speech of our General Manager Mehmet Ali Kılıçkaya at the “Antalya Health Tourism Summit”: