Turkish Officials Forecast 10 bln USD from Medical Tourism in 2020

Friday July 22, 2011

In five years approximately 220 million people will be categorized as “elderly citizens”. This will boost the number of international patients to countries which offer good value for money.

Rifat Hisarciklioglu, Chairman of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), said Friday that in 2010 health tourists left 850 million USD in Turkish hospitals.    

Explaining the potential of the health Tourism Business Council (SAIK) within the framework of DEIK, the Chairman noted that the country will be able to welcome half a million international patients by year 2020 adding 10 billion USD to state budge.

According to Hisarciklioglu, Turkey will work hard to become attractive for foreign health insurers and the United States in particular. The country’s primary focus is also cooperation with the neighboring countries such as Kuwait, Hisarciklioglu said.    

"43 million US citizens live without health insurance while120 million US citizens have no resource to cover their dental treatment. Therefore, it would not be a surprise to see a skyrocketing number of international patients from countries such as the US. Many middle-class citizens and social top will be willing to travel abroad to receive first-class treatment," Hisarciklioglu added.

Appeared in worldbulletin.net

Tags: medical tourism, Turkey