“We Shall Establish A Chain Of Hospitals Abroad”

Mehmet Ali Aydınlar is the head of the Acıbadem Health Group. It is the biggest player in the private health sector in Turkey. In the last month it has opened three new hospitals worth US$240 million. He is ambitious, predicting: “In the next 10 years, Acıbadem will be not a Turkish but a global brand.” We spoke with Mehmet Ali Aydınlar in the Acıbadem Maslak Hospital, which was opened two months ago at a cost of US$115 million. Aydınlar explained how they had brought Acıbadem to its current position and their new targets.

Health Tourism Will Grow
“In terms of health tourism, Turkey and Istanbul are becoming more attractive by the day. Last year, just as the Acıbadem Health Group, we earned US$5 million from health tourism. Our target for this year is US$10 million. Foreign patients no longer come just for cosmetic surgery. For example, last year most patients came from abroad for treatments for cancer, brain surgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery and eye surgery. Turkey’s strategic location, its hospitals and human resources are what make it stand out. Turkey has really well developed hospitals and good human resources.

Turkey Is Cheaper
In addition, the cost of services in Turkey is very low when compared with Europe and the USA. For example, in Britain it costs £16,000 for non-intrusive treatment to remove a brain tumour. In Turkey, you can easily have it done for US$8,000. As a result, we have a lot of foreign patients coming to Turkey for this treatment. We have a lot of patients coming for heart operations, particularly from the USA. For example, in the USA, a heart operation costs $20,000. In Turkey, the same operation is US$6-7,000.

We Have Entered The Top 500
At Acıbadem we have always targeted the A group. We are undoubtedly number one in the sector. We are the only health institution in the list of the 500 largest companies in Turkey. Our target group will not change in the future. Now, even if they are not included amongst the high income group, more people can spend more money on health. This situation is a little bit related to cultural levels. The development of private health insurance is expanding the sector. As a natural result of this, the number of our patients is growing by the day. For example, ever since 2000 we have always grown by 25 percent. This year we have realized our investments in new hospitals. We shall experience the real growth in 2010.

Our Target Is Abroad
Each new investment makes me really excited. In the last month, we have opened three large hospitals. The hospital in Maslak has a total covered area of 40,000 square metres, the ones in Adana and Kayseri 22,000 square metres each. These are all huge investments for the health sector. At the moment, we have three ongoing new investments in Fulya, Eskişehir and Bodrum. These will each cost US$70 million dollars.

Our most important target is to become a global brand. In order to achieve this we need to look outside the country. We are continuing to hold negotiations on investments abroad. We are conducting intensive research in Europe and the Gulf region.