Why is Turkey a Top Destination for Plastic Surgery during 2000s?

Plastic surgery is a cosmetic or aesthetic surgical procedure with the sole focus of enhancing and fixing a patient’s physical appearance by reconstructing, replacing, and restoring skin to remove its flaws and improve the overall look.

Along with its tourism sector, which has been thriving for the last two decades, Turkey also become a top international destination for medical tourism. Every year, many come from different parts of the world for tourism and medical tourism reasons; some even combine both.

To understand Turkey’s global success as a medical tourism destination, we need to take a look at the background behind it and the particularity of Turkey as a country.

Here are a few reasons why Turkey is the best place for it:

Healthcare Infrastructure Favorably Alters Plastic Surgery Sector

Turkey is known for having excellent healthcare infrastructure that is continuously being developed to suffice the growing need and match international standards. The healthcare sector in Turkey consists of public and private health clinics, with private ones offering excellent and efficient services.

Thanks to recent reforms by the Turkish ministry of health, the number of private clinics has significantly increased in recent years to become a major contributor to the Turkish economy.

Global Tourism and Medical Tourism Destination

In 2019, Turkey was visited by a record-breaking number of around 52 million visitors, making it one of the most visited countries and one of the most important tourism destinations globally.

As for medical tourism, according to TURKSTAT, in 2019 alone, around 700.000 patients received healthcare services in Turkey within the scope of medical tourism. These are foreigners who come to Turkey mainly to get healthcare services in Turkish private clinics. The revenues of medical tourism amounted to 1 billion USD in 2019 alone.

The rise of tourism in Turkey, in general, has contributed to the growth of the medical tourism sector. Some travel agencies even propose combined packages of tourism and medical tourism.

Highly Qualified Health Workers

Turkey is known for its quality education, with multiple internationally recognized universities all over the country. Various universities rank well globally, including medical and healthcare faculties. Having well-trained and highly skilled health workers is one of the main reasons why Turkey managed to stand out globally when it comes to a medical treatment destination.

Affordable Prices

Most people care about having excellent healthcare services at the lowest possible prices. For this particular reason, Turkey is advantageous. It is today one of the cheapest countries to do these operations.

For some, coming to Turkey and paying for medical services along with travel and accommodation expenses would still be more affordable than having plastic surgeries done in their own countries.

Credibility and High Standards

All private clinics in Turkey are overseen and supervised by the Turkish health ministry to ensure the quality of services that are being provided by these clinics. Having high standards is necessary to establish an internationally trustworthy medical tourism industry.