Turkey sees rise in transplant operations

ISTANBUL

AA photo

The number of people travelling to Turkey for transplant operations has doubled in the last two years, a specialist doctor told state-run Anadolu Agency on Feb. 10.        

Eyüp Kahveci, chairman of the Turkey Transplantation Fund Board, delivered a speech highlighting some of the key issues of transplant operations at the Istanbul workshop of the International Transplantation Network Project, which was set up in 2015.      

Doctors from Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Central African Republic and Iran joined the workshop.      
  
“Declaration of Istanbul: Prevention of Organ Trafficking" was discussed as a hot topic with the ministry of health delegates of 76 participant countries, who attended the International Transplant Network (ITN) project from its beginning.

 It was determined that 30 of the participating countries do not have regulatory legislative framework on organ donation and transplantation. These countries were promoted for making regulatory legislative framework on organ donation and transplantation according to international consensus documents aim to prevent organ trafficking.  

Turkey has become a popular destination for health toursits for operaitons such as hair transplants, heart surgery and plastic surgery. 

Most health tourists come to Turkey from Iraq, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Greece, Uzbekistan and Bosnia Herzegovina as well as other European countries, according to officials. 

The government’s official target is to make around $20 billion in revenue annually from the health sector by 2023, which will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.