Demand for hair grafts in Turkey, unlike other types of surgical operations, it has not only been maintained during the coronavirus pandemic but also has not stopped growing, according to Turkish medical experts consulted.
In statements made to the Turkish daily Hürriyet, Reşat Bahat, president of the Association of Private Hospitals and Health Organizations of Turkey (OHSAD), pointed out that during the pandemic there have been major and unexpected changes in patients’ spending habits, and that many people have had to deal with serious diseases like heart problems or Cancer without undergoing the necessary controls.
“Many of our patients have not undergone treatment or follow-up for their chronic diseases during this period of more than a year (from COVID-19 pandemic); However, the hair transplants, the breast prosthesis, the rhinoplasty, and grafts of botoxThey have not stopped growing, ”said Bahat, who considered this phenomenon worthy of a sociological investigation.
The pandemic has halved health tourism
However, Ahmet Tekin, Director General of Health Services of the Turkish Ministry of Health, stated during a conference organized by the Turkish Health Policy Institute (TÜSPE) that the pandemic has significantly affected the health tourism in Turkey.
“In 2019, 23.4% of tourism was health. But there was a 48% decrease in health tourism during the period of the pandemic ”, explained Tekin, adding that the income from this concept, which in 2019 amounted to about 1,200 million dollars, were halved in 2020 because of the coronavirus.
“Our target for 2023 in health tourism is to reach up to 1.5 million foreign tourists who travel to our country for health, and achieve an income of 10 billion dollarsTekin announced.
Before the pandemic, main countries of origin of tourists traveling to the country for health tourism – many of them to undergo hair grafts in Turkey – were Syria, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Libya, Turkmenistan, Russia, Germany, Iran and Georgia; in the wake of the pandemic, the main countries are Syria, Iraq, Germany (patients from this country they have doubled), Libya, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and the United States.
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