Turkey is known as the meeting point of the West and the East. After the liberalization of its economy in the late 1980’s, Turkey has started to show its potential with its 70 million citizens inside and another 5 million citizens in West Europe such as in Germany. The Turkish economy has been growing rapidly affecting local medical tourism as well.
One of the most important sectors in Turkey is tourism. Every year millions of people visit Turkey for its historical sights. Needless to say, Istanbul, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and then the Ottoman Empire, is one of the most popular destinations in the country. The majority of tourists, however, head to crystal clear beaches, luxurious resorts on the West and the South during the summer. Especially Germans, Britons, and Russians choose Turkey for luxurious yet affordable holidays.
In recent years, spas have been added to luxurious resorts to provide more comfort to the visitors. The trend that started with the establishment of the spas awakened many medical providers especially in the fields of plastic surgery and dentistry. Local medical tourism facilities gradually became famous and medical providers from other fields have also entered the market including IVF clinics.
“Turkey overall has 100 IVF Centers and performs over 40.000 cycles per year, providing one of the biggest volumes in the world,” said Ugur Camlibel, Business Development Director at Istanbul’s Jinemed Clinics. Their Jinemed Hospital was founded by American Board certified Turkish doctors in 1989 and is a popular IVF center in Turkey.
“It is not only the quality care nor the holiday aspects that take the attention of the foreigners who are interested in the IVF treatment, but also the low costs, flexibility, and of course the Turkish hospitality,” added Camlibel.
Costs are of course a determining point. Most of the patients of Jinemed come from the UK, Germany and the U.S. In the UK, the NHS system has been unpopular in recent years with its waiting lines, and lack of quality of the service. Although the system still pays for the IVF services, people need to wait for several years to get accepted.