ANKARA: 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.
Delegates at the meeting also discussed ways to stop organ trafficking. 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. Turkey has become a popular destination for organ transplants, hair transplants, heart surgery and plastic surgery operations. The government’s 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.
