Turkey to Open Doors to 31 Countries for Health Tourism

Turkey will start receiving foreign patients from 31 countries as part of attempts to reopen its economy and relax coronavirus limitations, the health ministry announced Saturday.

The ministry stated that it had placed certain security requirements and isolation practices for foreign patients to enter the country, to be accepted to hospitals, and to get treatment.

The statement by the ministry recorded that the rules would apply for both the cases and their attendants.

According to the requirements, a maximum of two attendants per patient will be permitted into the country. The patients and the attendants will go by the COVID-19 PCR test, or specimens will be needed for the PCR test for a fee when entering Turkey from the airports or frontier gates.

If there are COVID-19 tests available in their home country, patients are obliged to take the test within 48 hours before their trip and bring negative COVID-19 PCR test result documents accompanying them.

Only COVID-19 negative people will be received into the country.

After entering Turkey, the patients and their attendants will be straight taken to the hospital where they have an appointment and will not be entertained anyplace else.

One floor or corridor of the hospital will be designated only for the patients arriving from overseas.

The 31 countries include Iraq, Libya, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Djibouti, Algeria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Somalia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The patients of orthopedics and traumatology, general surgery, pediatric surgery, urology, eye diseases, cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, surgical oncology, gynecologic oncology surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, brain and nerve surgery, hematology, intensive care, assisted-reproduction treatment applications, organ transplantation, and bone marrow transplantation, will be taken into the country.

The patients will be enrolled in the patient chart of the International Health Services Inc. (USHAS) and following the pre-approval, their confirmation letter will be sent to the related institutions. USHAS will publish the documents required for the pre-approval.

In recent years, Turkey has graced one of the top destinations for medical tourism, drawing nearly 1 million foreign visitors for treatment purposes in 2018, according to official data.

Health tourism comprises a wide array of treatments, from medical tourism, such as treatment and surgery in hospitals; thermal tourism; services such as rehabilitation and rest in thermal facilities; and elderly and disabled tourism; long-term stays with social activities geriatric treatment stations.

While Turkey has strengthened its investment portfolio within the framework of these categories, the interest of tourists who seek treatment in ranges such as oncology, orthopedics, and aesthetics in the past few years has been shown in official numbers.

COVID-19 in Turkey:

Turkey’s total number of recoveries from COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday hit 109,962 as 1,825 more patients recovered, while the active cases dropped to 35,333, said the country’s health minister.

The death toll from the pandemic rose to 4,140 as the country reported 44 new fatalities over the past 24 hours, Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter, citing the ministry data.

The country also registered 1,368 new cases, bringing the tally to 149,435.

There are currently 914 patients in Turkey’s intensive care units, and 468 patients are on ventilators.

Courtesy: Anadolu Agency