Why Patients Trust Us
Trust in medical travel should rest on documents you can check, not adjectives on a website. Everything below is a commitment we put in writing before you book — accreditation you can verify, a price that does not move, and rights that stay yours throughout.
Accreditation
What JCI and ISO actually mean
Accreditation is the one quality signal in medical tourism that a clinic cannot award itself. Both standards below are granted by independent bodies, are time-limited, and are verifiable on a public register — which is exactly why we insist on them.
JCI (Joint Commission International) is the global benchmark for hospital quality and patient safety. Surveyors audit on site against roughly 1,200 measurable elements — infection control, surgical-site verification, medication safety, emergency response — and re-accredit every three years.
JCI accreditation is issued to a named hospital, not to a group or a brand. A chain holding accreditation at one site does not make every site accredited, and we check the specific facility where you will be treated.
ISO 9001 certifies that a clinic runs a documented, audited quality-management system: traceable processes, recorded outcomes, corrective action when something goes wrong. It is a process standard rather than a clinical one, which is why we treat it as complementary to JCI, not a substitute.
ISO 13485 (medical devices) and ISO 15189 (medical laboratories) matter for implant traceability and lab reliability — we confirm these where a treatment depends on them.
Turkey's Ministry of Health International Health Tourism Authorisation is a legal licence to treat international patients. It is a baseline requirement, not a quality award, and every clinic we list holds it.
You can verify any claim yourself: search the hospital's name on jointcommissioninternational.org, and ask us for the ISO certificate number and issuing registrar. We will send both without being chased.
Worth knowing: If a clinic describes itself as "internationally accredited" without naming the body, the certificate number and the expiry date, treat that as unaccredited until proven otherwise.
Price transparency
One itemised quote, fixed before you fly
Most complaints in medical tourism are not about clinical outcomes — they are about a price that moved. Our quotes are line-by-line documents, agreed in writing before you book a flight.
Every quote is itemised: surgeon's fee, anaesthesia, operating theatre, hospital nights, implants or grafts with brand and quantity, medication, hotel nights, transfers and follow-up appointments.
The graft count, implant brand, number of crowns or number of IVF cycles is stated as a number in the quote — never as "as required", which is how open-ended invoices begin.
The price is fixed once you accept it. It changes only if you ask for additional treatment, or if a pre-operative test reveals a clinical reason to change the plan — in which case you receive a revised quote to approve before anything proceeds.
Exclusions are listed as explicitly as inclusions: flights, personal expenses, extended hotel nights, unrelated conditions found incidentally, and any treatment you decline at the consultation.
Deposits are typically 20–30% at booking with the balance settled at the clinic before surgery. You receive an itemised invoice from the hospital, in your own name, every time.
Currency is stated on the quote and held for 30 days, so an exchange-rate move between quote and arrival is not your problem.
Patient rights
Your rights before, during and after treatment
You keep every right you would have at home, and Turkish law grants international patients the same protections as domestic ones. These are the ones patients most often do not know they have.
The right to know who will operate on you. Your surgeon is named in writing before you travel, and you may decline a substitution — "surgeon rotation" is not something you have to accept.
The right to informed consent in a language you understand, with a professional interpreter present, and enough time to read the document before signing it.
The right to a second opinion — including from a doctor at home — and to see your own imaging, test results and treatment plan on request, at no charge.
The right to refuse or stop treatment at any point, including after you have arrived in Istanbul and after a deposit has been paid.
The right to an itemised invoice and to a copy of your complete medical record, discharge summary and operative note before you fly home.
The right to raise a complaint: first with your coordinator, then with the hospital's international patient office, and — if it remains unresolved — with the Turkish Ministry of Health, which regulates health-tourism-authorised facilities.
The right to dignity and privacy in care, and to have a companion present at consultations.
Medical data privacy
How we handle your medical information
You will be sending us reports, scans and photographs — some of the most sensitive data you own. Here is precisely what happens to it.
Your records are shared only with the specific clinics you have approved, and only the parts relevant to the quote. We never circulate a file to a panel of hospitals to collect bids.
Health data is special-category data under GDPR (Article 9) and Turkey's KVKK law. We process it on the basis of your explicit consent, which you may withdraw at any time.
Transfers happen over encrypted channels. Please do not email scans of your reports unprompted — your coordinator will send you a secure upload link.
We retain enquiry records for as long as your care requires and no longer than the statutory minimum afterwards; you can request deletion at any point and we confirm in writing when it is done.
Clinical records held by the treating hospital are retained under Turkish medical-records law. That retention period is set by regulation, not by us, and your coordinator will tell you what applies.
We never sell, rent or trade your data, and we do not use your medical information for advertising or profiling of any kind.
Before-and-after photographs are used publicly only with your separate, specific written consent — and consent for one photograph is never treated as consent for all of them.
Revision & warranty
What happens if the result is not right
No honest clinic promises a perfect outcome every time. What separates a good one is having written terms for the times it falls short — agreed before you travel, not negotiated afterwards.
Revision terms are included in your treatment agreement before surgery. If a clinic will not commit them to writing, we do not work with that clinic.
Where a documented complication or a result outside the agreed clinical plan requires corrective surgery, our partner clinics perform the revision at no charge to you — typically within 12 to 24 months, depending on the procedure.
Dental implants carry manufacturer warranties (commonly 10 years to lifetime on the fixture) which we register in your name and hand to you with the implant passport and lot numbers.
Hair transplant graft-survival guarantees, where offered, are stated as a percentage with the assessment date — usually at 12 months, since earlier judgements are not clinically meaningful.
Revision cover is conditional on following the written aftercare protocol. Those conditions are given to you up front, in plain language, so nothing can be produced as a surprise later.
Travel and accommodation for a revision trip are normally your responsibility unless your agreement says otherwise. We tell you which applies before you book, and several partners do cover it.
Aftercare does not end at the airport: WhatsApp access to the clinical team, scheduled check-ins, and a coordinator who will chase the hospital on your behalf if a reply is slow.
Independent verification
Do not take our word for it
Ask your coordinator for the accreditation certificate, the surgeon's board registration number and the itemised quote in writing — then check them yourself. We send all three as a matter of course, and a clinic that hesitates has told you something important.
Have a question we have not answered?
Ask a patient coordinator directly — no obligation, and a reply within 24 hours.