4. INTERNATIONAL HEALTH
TOURISM CONGRESS
     (28-31 OCTOBER-İSTANBUL/TURKEY    
FINAL DECLARATION

   The 4th of the International Health Tourism Congress in which each year we get more experienced and strong took place at İstanbul Holiday Inn Hotel between  28-31 October 2011. Since the congress attracted intensive attention domestically and internationally, it was so much satisfactory for both our sector and our country.

  A vast number of senior bureaucrats and protocol authorities in Turkey ( T.R. Ministry of Health Vice-Minister Agah KAFKAS, T.R. Ministry of Health Deputy-Undersecretary Hakkı YEŞİLYURT, T.R. Ministry of Health Minister Counsellor Spec. Dr. Hasan ÇAĞIL, T.R. Ministry of Health Treatment Services General Directorate General Director Prof. Dr. İrfan ŞENCAN, T.R. Ministry of Health Basic Health Services General Directorate Vice Principal Prof. Dr. Ali COŞKUN, T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism Promotion General Directorate Cumhur Güven TAŞBAŞI, T.R. Ministry of Health Foreign Affairs Chairman Kamuran ÖZDEN, T.R. Ministry of Health Health Tourism Coordinator Dr. Dursun AYDIN, İstanbul Provincial Health Directorate Director Prof. Dr. Ali İhsan DOKUCU), directors of Ankara, Bursa, Kütahya, Adana, Gaziantep, İzmir Provincial Health Directorates, Authorities of TURSAB (Association of Turkish Travel Agencies), OHSAD (Association of Private Hospitals and Health Institutions), SAYED (Association of Health Management and Training), TÜMSİAD (Association of All Industrialists and Businessmen), TUROFED (Union of Turkish Hoteliers), TUHETO (Turkish Health Tourism Organization) and numerous public and private hospital managers, investors and insurance authorities attended to the congress.

   A vast number of senior bureaucrats and protocol authorities from abroad ( Kosovo Ministry of Health, Health Minister Prof. Dr. Ferid AGANİ, Kosovo Ministry of Health, Vice-Minister Kadir HSEYNİ, Libya State Minister Responsible for Veterans, Widows and Orphans Abdal Rahman ALİ-KİSSA, Bahrain Ministry of Health Undersecretary Hasan Ali CEBBAR EL-NASSER, Jordan Ministry of Health Former Minister Prof. Dr. Mahmoud AL-SHEYYAB, Kosovo Ministry of Health Underseretary Ilır TOLAJ,Yemen Ministry of Health, Health Agency Presedent Dr. Samir RADHA, Afghanistan Ministry of Health, International Relations President Dr. Ahmet Jawad OSMANİ, Jordan Ministry of Health , Health Tourism Department President Dr. Ahmed RAJAEI and Libya Acting Ambassador Mohmed ZENATI), managers of private health and travel insurance companies, health tourism agency owners, opinion leaders about health tourism and media representatives also attended to the congress.

  120 overseas sector representatives from 27 different countries (USA, England, Kosovo, Uzbekistan, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Latvia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, UAE, Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, India, Malta, Khirghizistan, Russian Federation, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) 400 domestic sector representatives, 65 domestic and international spokesmen, 15 sponsor companies, totally 500 participants attended to the congress and it was successfully completed between the dates 28-31 October 2011. This congress led up to versatile cooperations and agreements. All presentations of the congress have been published at www.saglikturizmikongresi.org web adres and they have been presented to public.

The congress started on 28 October in an order with the registration, visitation of Medical Park Bahçelievler Hospital and dinner. The Program started on 29 October with the opening speech of Health Tourism Congress Association President Dear S. Kamil YÜCEORAL and continued with speeches and academic presentations of the other precious participants. The participants have been taken to Zeytinburnu Avrasya Hospital the same day’s evening and this hospital has been introduced to them. After the academic presentation ended on 30 October, it was organized a gala dinner at “Feriye Restaurant” in Bosphorus. On 31 October, Monday, it was organized a Bosphorus tour for our guests and they were taken to Acıbadem Maslak Hospital in order to introduce this hospital. The IV. International Health Tourism Congress was completed on 1 November 2011 by taking good wishes of our foreign guests and departure of them from Turkey.

Results of the congress;

1. General Assessment  

     1) Awareness process of health tourism has been completed in the world and in   Turkey as
well and it is now accepted by everyone that health tourism is a rapidly growing branch
service sector.

2) International standards, information sharing and quality is crucial in order to provide a
sustainable growth rate for health tourism sector.

     3) The Health Tourism service providers who provide quality, economical and customer
based services, pay attention to brandization will be able to sustain and later on will
develope more.

4) In the next congresses and meetings; result-based, more specific, quality and marketing
based issues should be performed.    

5) For the health  tourism, the integration is so important that the coordination between the
sub-sections such as Medical Tourism, Thermal Tourism and Spa-Wellness should be
provided.

    6)Health Tourism is important for increasing the total life quality and spread the tourism to
12 months.

   7) The leading primary facts in marketing due to the fact that health tourism is a branch of
service sector;

1. Regionalism (Transportation is the most important factor),
2. Cultural Closeness,
3. The ability of the working personnels to speak the foreign patient’s  language and to know his culture.
4. Presentation of quality and customer based health service
5. International information sharing, chase of good applications.

B) In Terms of Turkey;                                      

      1) As Turkey is taking the great attention in every field in its own region, it will provide
the same achievement in health tourism as well.

      2) There are currently 45 health facilities which are appropriate to world standards,
supplied with high technology and accredited by international accreditation institutions
(JCI). Many helath institutions belonging to private sector, especially hospitals and
thermal centers have seriously tended towards to the health tourism.

     3) In Turkey, Ministry of Health must be regulating, supervising and providing the
development of sector whereas private health institutions and thermal centers must be
presenting the service.

     4) The rescission of the ban of foreign doctor employment shall improve the health
tourism.

     5) Health Tourism Coordinatorship established within the Ministry of Health has been a
great hope for health tourism community. Ministry of Health must provide the
coordination between the ministries and sector’s health tourism field.

     6) In the coordination of Ministry of Health, it must be accelerated to provide cooperation
between all public  institutions, STK, Universities and  health tourism sectors. Effective
and coordinated works must be applied in advertisement.

     7) The investors fort he thermal tourism must be attracted. The government has been
providing the required incentive for the development of thermal tourism.

8) It was an important progression to make legal regulation about the free health
zones and by transforming this regulation to applicable form, it must be applied.

 9) When the health campuses enter into services, Turkey will be a real health base
in its own region. The role of the public hospitals in health tourism will increase.

10) Health tourism has been a remarkable tourism resource in our country and it undertook
a role of great importance to spread the tourism to 12 months and to provide inflows of   
foreign currency.

11) The Arab Spring will especially contribute to the development of the health tourism in Turkey. The casualties coming from Libya to Turkey in order to have treatment have been one of the most important indicators of this situation.

12) The avarage world's population is aging rapidly. The elderly population rate in developed countires is about 20%. The young population of our country is a crucial source
for long years. With our hospitable culture, we can serve them the best elderly care service.  

C) In terms of the content of the congress;

1. Despite the application of various sections of health tourism in Turkey and in the  World, the medical tourism stil remains as the leading one. However, The health tourism shall be sustainable so long as the integration between these sections are achieved.

2)  When considering the number of doctors and dentists in Turkey, “Dental Tourism”
seems to be more important and it must be developed.

3)  In terms of elderly and thermal tourism capacity of Turkey, most of its provinces are  potentially a great market. However, İstanbul and Ankara have always been leading and  crucial destinations for medical tourism.

       4) The common message of the spokesmen about the health tourism; in terms of Turkey’s        quality, supplied with high technology, sustainable and competitive health services, primarily, serious promotional activities must be applied oriented to close market (Neighbourhood countries, the Balkans, Caucasus, North Afrika, Middle East Countries, etc).

5) The common wish has been to continue this congress regularly each year, to make national and international information sharing, besides those to concentrate on business negotiations and especially to provide a result-based business negotiation platform.

1. The Health Tourism Association will organize meetings for cooperation and promotion about health tourism with Arab countries in particular, all neighbouring countries.

 
As a result;

  The most important results of the 4th International Health Tourism Congress, especially the ones mentioned by the foreign authorities, could be summarized as:

 Turkey is a highly advantageous country in terms of geographical status.

 Turkey has got modern and developed health infrastructures and remarkable thermal resources.

 Turkey has been serving more competitive and quality health services compared to equal level developed countries.

  By means of health tourism, public authorities should provide the cooperation and coordination with the private sector and more promotional activities must be applied.

  By realizing those abovementioned developments, Turkey will undoubtedly be the health base of its own region in near future.

     As we are the Health Tourism Association; by stating that we are always going to be the follower of the issues that Turkey should take its deserved portion from World’s Health Tourism market and we will be so much happy to cooperate with all parties related to our new congress and alike activities, we would like to express our thanks to everyone contributing and attending to the congress.

Kind regards,

ongress Executive Committee

REPRESENTATIVES OF WORLD HEALTH TOURISM ARE MEETING IN ISTANBUL

Dear Representatives of the Health Tourism Sector,
We have decided for the fourth International Health Tourism Congress to take place in Istanbul between 28-30 October 2011, which we organise it every year as the Health Tourism Association of Turkey.
As it is well known, the Health Tourism Congress takes place every year with wider participation than the previous years and in a more functional form. It takes place with wide participation of important representatives of Health Tourism Sector from around the World and from Turkey as well as with participation of representatives of government and top level bureaucrats of Ministry of Health, Ministry of Culture and Tourism.  
The potential of the Health Tourism has transformed Turkey, whose share in the world market is ever growing, in to a regional Health Tourism Centre. The  Health Tourism Congress becomes an effective base for the establishments investing in the sector in order to create new opportunities for them with regards to the great potential of Turkey.
The most important objective of the Health Tourism Congress is to create new opportunities for our investors, who have made large investments in the Health Tourism and to become the platform in order to contribute for the  development of the sector.  With this objective in mind, special programs are organised for the congress in order that the representatives of the sector could achieve business connections with guests arriving from neighbouring countries as well as with representatives arriving from Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Balkans, European, North African countries and from the USA.
On the other hand, opportunity is provided for the investors and businessmen to have one to one meetings with the representatives of the government and with bureaucrats in order to develop the sector.
Another important feature of the Health Tourism Congress is that it brings together the investors and businessmen arriving from neighbouring countries as well as the ones arriving from Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Balkans, European, North African countries and from the USA with Turkish investors and businessmen.  The  Health Tourism Congress is also opening doors for new business connections for the hospitals, which especially have  their activities in the health tourism field.
We shall be pleased to see all of the representatives, managers and employees of the health and tourism sector at the IV Health Tourism Congress, where the finger will be put on the pulse of the  Health Tourism.

S.Kamil YÜCEORAL
Chairman of the Congress Executive Board

IV . CONGRESS PROGRAMME OF INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOURISM

ARABIC

MEETING POINT OF THE HEALTH TOURISM SECTOR REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 3-6 2010 ISTANBUL-TURKEY

With the Support of the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism the 3rd International Health Tourism Convention will be held by the Health Tourism Association. We invite all parties involved in Tourism( Private hospitals, Thermal, Spa, Wellness, Medical Firms and Tourism Firms, Relevant Organizations and Authorities) to our convention. Dr Dursun AYDIN President of the Convention  

II. INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOURISM CONGRESS FINAL DECLARATION

II. Uluslararası Sağlık Turizmi Kongresi Antalya'da yapıldı.
Kongrede Kültür ve Turizim Bakanımız Sayın Ertuğrul GÜNAY' bir konuşma yaptı.

Medikal Turizm Magazin Editörü Renee MARIE STEPHANO- ABD

Devamı

ABOUT 2ND INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOURISM CONGRESS Nowadays, all countries of the world have begun in a quest of decreasing the costs of health services. The demand for deriving the more economic and more qualified health service has increased inter-state patient mobility in the world. The countries improved in the sector are in a quest of alternatives to expanding their tourism activities to 12 months. Turkey ought to expand its tourism activities, and improve the health tourism. This is the necessity of being the leader country in the territory, and the demand of acquiring the market share from the health tourism in progress. In our country healthcare institutions, thermal spring facilities have rapidly improved and become prevalent over the recent years; such most of our institutions have gone beyond their equivalents abroad. Furthermore, since health investors from many countries are going to participate in the health tourism congresses, the manufacturer firms within the medical sector will have a great opportunity to make promotion and marketing of themselves in such congresses. As is known, the market of the medical sector has extremely shrunk in our country. Many domestic and foreign senior managers, investors, and sector representatives participated in our congress, the first of which we held on March 14th-17th, 2008, and was opened by our esteemed Ministry of Health, Prof. Dr. Recep AKDAĞ. This congress has been a historical milestone for the health tourism in our country. The 2nd International Health Tourism Congress to be held between February 27th - March 2nd will be such a platform where both domestic and foreign participants will discus the matters on health tourism comprehensively.  This congress will gather the sector together, and provide a medium for business interviews. Many ministers, deputy ministers, senior officers, lecturers, journalists, investors, and insurance representatives from many countries including Greece, Bulgaria, Syria, Georgia, Azerbaijan, USA; Dubai, Bahrain, Lebanon, Hungary, Finland, Austria, Egypt, Moldova, Albania, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, India, France, Germany, Jordan, Sudan, Afghanistan, TRNC, Macedonia, and Kosovo will be present as participants, and the health tourism, including the medical, elderly, and thermal spring tourism will be comprehensively discussed. Besides, there will be a great lounge in the congress hall, the parties of health tourism and the medical firms will be able to open their stands and introduce themselves. The sellers and the buyers will meet face to face. We are expecting all hospitals, special clinics, thermal spring facilities, insurance, medical and tourism sector firms to our congress.The Executive Board Nowadays, all countries of the world have begun in a quest of decreasing the costs of health services. The demand for deriving the more economic and more qualified health service has increased inter-state patient mobility in the world. The countries improved in the sector are in a quest of alternatives to expanding their tourism activities to 12 months. Turkey ought to expand its tourism activities, and improve the health tourism. This is the necessity of being the leader country in the territory, and the demand of acquiring the market share from the health tourism in progress Cont'd In recent years Health Tourism is a rising trend. In the world it is moving directly to be the most varied, fastest eveloping and important tourism alternative.Within this issue I will mention especially our eighboring countries, the Turkish Republics and the Middle East countries.Health Tourism related organizations should firstly decide in which group and to which market will health tourism work. Thermal tourism,elderly tourism, medical tourism, even in medical tourism firstly it should be decided whether it is latest technology treatment? Or infertility? Or eye? Or aesthetic surgery? Cont'd Our Health Minister, Prof. Dr. Recep AKDAG is at the 1st International Health Tourism Congress: 15 MARCH 2008 BELEK/ANTALYA I thank you to the chairman of Association of Improving Health Tourism and his team accomplished a great work both for health and tourism. I say welcome to our visitors and guests... Cont'd PRESS RELEASE THE NEW RISING STAR OF TOURISM, HEALTH TOURISM, THE REPRESENTATIVES OF HEALTH AND TOURISM SECTORS CONVENED at the 1st INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOURISM CONGRESS HELD IN ANTALYA The health tourism issue in every aspect was handled, its challenges were discussed and future plans and programs were made at the congress hold under the leadership of the ASSOCIATION OF IMPROVING HEALTH TOURISM and by the support... Cont'd 1st INTERNATIONAL HEALTH TOURISM CONGRESS (14-17 MARCH 2008) BELEK/ANTALYA FINAL DECLARATION In our congress there were 53 foreign attendants from 27 different countries (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanese, Macedonia, Malta, Moldavia, NCTR, Syria, Sweden, Tunisia, UK, USA and Uzbekistan) and 300 domestic attendants... Cont'd

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