Post-Covid-19, we feel it is our responsibility to advise our clients to select a Turkish hospital for any medical procedure, that includes hair transplant surgery, cosmetic surgery and dental treatment, including implants. Even the best clinics for hair transplant, Turkey could be falling short of the safety, hygiene and professional standards we want for our clients.
Why are we advising this? Our reasoning, which you can read below, is based on several issues that we think are essential to ensure your safety and maintain our European standards of clinical care.
Licensing In Turkey
A clinic license in Turkey typically only covers beauty treatments, so the beauty salon that does your mani-pedi holds the exact license that a clinic for hair transplant surgery does! This licence includes treatments like Botox and filler and allows for one, once-a-day hair transplant only.
Hospitals in Turkey come under the preview of the Ministry of Health and have a large number of regulations covering every aspect of clinical care, clinical procedures, medications and hospital standards. In recent years Turkey has undergone an intensive transformation of its healthcare system, bringing it in line with European standards from the state-regulated Turkish hospitals to the private international hospitals in Istanbul, and throughout Turkey.
On a tour of clinics in Turkey last year, we were not impressed by what we found. Both facilities and staffing were lacking, and we felt that patients were at risk. We also considered what regulations, if any, were applied. We found these inadequate as they did not meet the standard of care we expect to provide for our clients. Due to this, the Swedish Management Board made an executive decision for IdealofMed that we would have our procedures performed at hospitals that met our European standards.
What To Expect At A Hospital In Turkey Vs A Clinic
- A patient undergoing a procedure at a hospital in Turkey will undergo a check for Hepatitis, HIV and other contractible blood diseases. Blood analysis is conducted in a regulated, audited and sterilised environment, with safety procedures in place. At clinics, these facilities, plus a lack of expertise, do not allow for this necessary testing; testing that is essential for compliance with procedures and treatments like Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) procedure.
- Covid-19 or Resistant Bacteria – a hospital has numerous regulations, safety procedures and controls to ensure a clean environment, something that a clinic does not. Free from such regulations a clinic could wax your legs one day and perform your hair transplant surgery the next – in the same room! Not an ideal situation by any means.
- Staffing – it is vitally important that all personnel involved in your hair transplantation, dental or cosmetic surgery are of course trained medical staff, because of the Ministry of Health regulations this is assured within Turkish hospitals. Clinics do not have the same rules or auditors, so they can employ whomever they want to, including people with no medical experience or training, which we think is scary!
- Emergencies – All hospitals in Turkey have the facilities to hand to deal with any emergency that comes its’ way. Unfortunately, that is not the case with clinics who do not have the resources to deal with any complication in your procedures. If anything untoward happens, a patient has to go to the nearest hospital!
- Responsibility – Turkish hospitals have liability insurance, and private hospitals are often part of international medical consortium, who have deep pockets! What does this mean for you? Simply put, you can claim if something goes wrong. You can claim liability from the hospital and damage from the insurance company. This is not an option with a clinic, whose financial resources can be limited as can their insurance. Clinic facilities are often rented as a cost-saving measure, so identifying who is responsible when things go wrong can be difficult.
IdealofMed Ensuring The Best Care
Alongside the doctors, nurses and anesthesia specialists, we also have Dr Devrim, our Head of Medicine. A practicing surgeon for 34 years, at IdealofMed he is personally involved in the operations both practically and overseeing the procedures. Dr Devrim has experience of working in leading European hospitals, and he brings the skills learnt there to audit all our patient’s cases ensuring European standards are met and the best care given.