"Health Tourism Panel at OMU: A Global Vision for the Doctors of the Future"

A health tourism panel titled "A Vision for the Doctors of the Future in a Globalising World" was held at Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU). The event, held in the OMU UZEM Conference Hall, examined current developments in health tourism and Türkiye's position on a global scale.

Prof. Hakan Hakeri, founding president of the Medical Law Association, joining from the United States, contributed with a presentation titled "Health Tourism Law". Dr Ezgi Canpolat conveyed "USHAŞ's National and International Health Projects" on behalf of Behlül Ünver, General Manager of International Health Services Inc. (USHAŞ). Prof. Hayati Akbaş, in his presentation on "Medical Tourism", assessed how far health tourism activity in Samsun has come.

OMU Vice Rector Prof. Çetin Kurnaz, in his talk titled "OMU's Vision and Mission in Health Tourism", said that 1.5 million health tourists came to Türkiye in 2023 and 2 million in 2024. Kurnaz stated that in the same period Samsun hosted 30,000 health tourists, of whom around 5,000 chose OMU. Drawing attention to Türkiye holding a 3 per cent share of the world health tourism market, Kurnaz noted that health tourists' spending per head ranges from 1,500 to 10,000 dollars.

Stressing that quality is the basis of competition in health, Kurnaz said that quality service requires the technological infrastructure to be kept up to date and a well-qualified workforce to be trained. He said that increasing internationalisation and research capacity would strengthen universities' position in this field.

Prof. Yetkin Bulut, Dean of the OMU Faculty of Tourism, who moderated the panel, said that Türkiye has reached world standards in the health sector. Bulut stated that social media and patient reviews have become effective promotional tools in health tourism, and that it matters greatly for every link in the chain - transport, accommodation, health care - to work as an integrated whole.

Prof. Fatih Özkan, President of the Samsun Health Tourism Association (SASTUD), stressed in his presentation titled "Non-Governmental Organisations in Health Tourism" that the focus should be on collaboration between institutions rather than competition. Conveying that significant progress has been made in promotion and patient transfer, Özkan said that non-governmental organisations taking an active role in these processes is a great help.

Süleyman Demirtaş, the Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism, took part in the panel, as did a large number of academics and students.