UK’s Advice for Citizens Who Travel to Turkiye for Medical Purposes

UK government’s website “gov.uk” where one can find about government services and information issued a warning about medical travels to Turkiye. The website told UK citizens that the quality of the health service they seek might change depending on the country. It added that the citizens should find the medical facility where they would like to get the health service and they should not trust companies organizing this medical trip. “gov.uk” also said that twenty-two citizens lost their lives during the medical treatment they paid to receive. Finally, it said that their citizens should check HealthTurkiye website to learn about the government-approved medical service providers and facilitators if they would like to receive medical treatment in Turkiye.

First of all, the British Government is ultimately right about warning its citizens against the scams that have been going on for some time. Alright, why is that? Be it Turkish, Afghan, Syrian, Nigerian or Ukranian, it does not matter, a person or persons with ill-intent hire an apartment flat in one of the business centres of the city. They equip it with the medical devices, hire some staff and buy or have someone make a website for their “clinic”. Most possibly, there is at least one doctor who immigrated to Turkiye and they use his/her true or not-so-true personal information to advertise the services and the clinic. So, the website is now published. A UK citizen searches for a medical service, finds the price awfully reasonable and takes the bait. He/she comes, most possibly to Istanbul where it is almost impossible to track every illegal activity, takes the treatment and turns back to the UK, if they are lucky enough not to die while they receive the treatment. Then, the complications begin and there is nowhere to go. You have to pay the price to a health facility that you previously found to be too expensive in the UK and have the problems fixed caused by the unauthorised and illegal health facility back in Istanbul or anywhere else in the world, maybe in the UK. It will not change anything, though, no matter what you do. Sue them, issue complaints, start social media complaints… You will have lost your health and suffered pain.

So, who is guilty here? There is no doubt, primarily the fake clinic, the control mechanism and then you, dear innocent citizen. You did not do what you should have done. You were mostly interested in the best price. So, you found it, eh? Joking aside, what responsible, informed and conscious people should do is to check and make sure that the health service provider and facilitator is authorised, inspected regularly and providing high quality service. We are faced with a new scam every day. We should be cautious and pay heed to government authorities and accredited organisations. Most health service providers and facilitators give the details regarding their accreditations and certificate of authority on their websites. You should easily be able to verify the authenticity of these documents from the website of the issuing authority. We may assume now that this is our priority from now on. “uk.gov” was not entirely wrong, was it?