USHAŞ held an important meeting with the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials in order to increase quality and reliability in international health services. During the meeting with Mr. Mike HASLAM and Mr. Colin STANILAND, Deputy Director of Workforce Strategy, Experience and Engagement at the UK Department of Health and Social Care, health tourism cooperation between the two countries and recent disinformation in the British press were discussed.
During the meeting, the regulatory role of USHAŞ in health tourism, the “HealthTürkiye” platform that offers reliable health services in accordance with international standards and Türkiye’s strong infrastructure in the field of health were emphasized. One of the main agenda items of the meeting was the information pollution and misdirection caused by the complications experienced by some patients from the UK. Mr. Behlül ÜNVER, General Manager of USHAŞ, stated that it is vital that patients coming to Türkiye for treatment are directed to institutions approved by the Ministry of Health instead of unauthorized health institutions.
Mr. Behlül ÜNVER drew attention to the necessity of direct coordination between the Ministries of Health of the two countries in order to increase international patient safety and service quality. He stated that Türkiye does not consider health tourism limited to medical tourism, but has a strong potential in areas such as geriatric tourism, disabled tourism, healthy living, spa and wellness. He also stated that cooperation opportunities with the UK can be evaluated in areas such as pharmaceutical and medical device supply, health investments, training programs for health professionals and digital health solutions.
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed to establish a stronger communication strategy to prevent disinformation and increase patient safety. Mr. Behlül ÜNVER invited the UK Ministry of Health officials to make a field visit to Türkiye and emphasized that a healthier flow of information could be provided through on-site inspections.
