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Travel Medicine in Turkey: Current State and

Implications for the Future

Article in Journal of Travel Medicine · January 2003

DOI: 10.2310/7060.2003.30693 · Source: PubMed

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Travel Medicine in Turkey: Current
State and Implications for the Future
Hakan Yaman
Since the introduction of mass tourism in the late
1980s to Turkey, recreational tourists have outnumbered
educational and adventure travelers. Nowadays, not only
healthy adults, but also people with chronic disease, preg-
nant women, young children, and elderly people are vis-
iting Turkey for vacation.1 But this change brings problems,
such as new types of risk-taking behaviors (i.e., pursuing
a specific sport or hobby, search of identity), lack at con-
cern for hygienic rules, water safety, hand washing, and
specific demands for medical care. These problems are the
challenge of travel medicine in Turkey today. 2
Turkey, as compared with other destinations, is rel-
ative new on the market. In 2001, 11.5 million tourists
visited Turkey and $7.5 billion (US) were gained from
this sector. The ratio of tourism income in the gross
national product has increased in the last 20 years from
0.6% to 3.8%. In 1997, 891,000 people were directly
employed in the tourism sector. The World Tourism
Organization has estimated that by the year 2020, 27 mil-
lion people will visit Turkey.3
Health services are provided predominantly by the
primary health care system. This consists of health cen-
ters that are located in larger settlements (5,000–10,000
people) and staffed with physicians, nurses, midwives, and
health technicians.4 Primary health care facilities are also
available and easily accessible in coastal and tourism
areas. If necessary, patients can be referred to state hos-
pitals that are well equipped and adequately staffed. Pri-
vate health care centers and hospitals are also available
in tourist areas to provide care to ill travelers. In state and
private hospitals, specialists in fields like infectious dis-
ease, internal medicine, orthopedic surgery, general
surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, and other fields are
Hakan Yaman, MD, MS: Süleyman Demirel University,
Medical School, Department of Sports Medicine, Isparta,
Turkey and Turkish Medical Association, Section of Tourist
Health, Instructor, Ankara, Turkey.
The author had no financial or other conflicts of interest to
disclose.
Correspondence: Dr. Hakan Yaman, Çelebiler mh,
119.cd.no:11/7, 32040 Isparta, Turkey.
J Travel Med 2003; 10:68–69.
68
available. In some instances, patients may have direct
access to medical specialists in hotels or holiday villages
because these “workplace doctors” regularly visit these
places to care for employees.
No postgraduate training program for travel med-
icine exists in Turkey. Since 1987, the Turkish Tourist
Health Society has been concerned with tourist health
in Turkey. This organization has organized three inter-
national conferences on tourist health in Turkey to foster
standards, cooperation, and awareness of this multidisci-
plinary and multisector discipline.1 Since 1992, the Turk-
ish Medical Association has been organizing tourist
health courses for doctors. The last course was held in
2001 and consisted of a 40-hour, formal, primer train-
ing in tourist health. The curriculum included infections,
sexually transmitted disease, vaccination, injury preven-
tion, first aid, and epidemiology. The Turkish Ministry
of Tourism has a department that is concerned with the
health education of tourism employees, and some uni-
versities in coastal regions have established new centers
for travel medicine (i.e., Akdeniz University in Antalya).
Tourism is a very important industrial sector of
Turkey and is increasing its income share year by year.
The Turkish Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
Tourism consider health services for travelers a high
priority. The primary health care system in Turkey, sup-
plemented by state and private hospitals, can provide ade-
quate health care to tourists by its easy accessibility,
widely distributed centers, and well equipped and staffed
facilities. The primary health care facilities’ roles in the
control of environmental issues in their area (water and
food safety, drainage, and canalization) contribute indi-
rectly to tourist health. Although this system can provide
contemporary health care to tourists, the challenges for
the future of Turkish travel medicine will be to estab-
lish a postgraduate clinical training program and travel
clinics with the active involvement of existing travel
medicine centers in universities.
References
1. Gürsu G. Tourist health and tourism. Proceedings of Vth Inter-
national Conference on Tourist Health:Traveler’s Safety-
Standards of Tour ism; 1995 Nov 15–18; Gümbet,
Bodrum-Turkey. Ankara: Turkish Tourist Health Society
Publ, 1996.
 Ya m a n , Tr a v e l M e d i c i n e i n Tu r k e y 69

2. Kocaošlu AB. Standards of medical services for travellers: a
safer Mediterranean for the year 2000. Proceedings of Vth
International Conference on Tourist Health: Traveler’s Safety-
Standards of Tourism; 1995 Nov 15-18; Gümbet, Bodrum-
Turkey. Ankara: Turkish Tourist Health Society Publ, 1996.
3. Turkish Travel Agency Association. Tourism statistics of
Turkey. Available at: URL:www.tursab.org.tr (accessed May
31, 2002).
4. Yaman H, Özen M. Satisfaction with family medicine train-
ing in Turkey:survey of residents.Croat Med J 2002; 43:54–57.

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