Deputy Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Muhammet Güven attends the 2nd Health Tourism Symposium in Elazığ and delivered a speech on the health tourism opportunities and targets of Turkey.
“Turkey offers both cost-effective and high-quality health services and perfect nature and culture tourism opportunities for the foreigners. Every year, around 30 million people go abroad for health tourism purposes.
Health tourism expenses is around $500 b. in the world. Turkey is located in a unique geography attractive for 1 billion people and 57 countries. We have the Turkish Airlines (THY) having direct flights to around 300 cities in 120 countries. These are all our strengths for health tourism.
In 2018, 550 thousands foreign patients benefitted from health and care services in Turkey, which provided revenue of around $1 billion 110 thousands. 2023 target of Turkey is 1.5 million health tourists and revenue of 10 billion dollars.
Health tourism is now a state policy, and it is high time to create a platform with stakeholders from various sectors, for which reason we established the International Health Services Ins. (USHAŞ).
USHAŞ was established for the purposes of promoting the health services provided in Turkey, supporting activities of public and private sector in this area, and developing policies and strategies for international health services. We will make efforts to reach the 2023 target of Turkey through USHAŞ Reception and International Health Information Units, Health Attachés, Advanced Diagnosis Centers and Centers of Excellence to be opened at the City Hospitals” said Prof. Dr. Güven in his speech.
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