Possible Early Examples of Medical Tourism

Tonga F., ÇAĞLAR Y. Ş., AKTAN E. S.

American Journal of the Medical Sciences, cilt.362, sa.3, ss.227-232, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Editöre Mektup
  • Cilt numarası: 362 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.amjms.2021.05.026
  • Dergi Adı: American Journal of the Medical Sciences
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Veterinary Science Database
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.227-232
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Medical tourism, Ottoman empire, Health, Consent form
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

© 2021 Southern Society for Clinical InvestigationHealth tourism has hundreds of years of history, most notably in visitors traveling to thermal baths. Medical tourism, a type of health tourism, has rapidly expanded in the last quarter century by patients travelling abroad to health centers for medical treatment. Because of lack of records in ancient times, the history of tourism for actual medical treatment is unknown. In Ottoman archives, medical treatment consent forms of patients were officially documented. We analyzed these existing records to identify foreign citizens who came to the Ottoman Empire for medical treatment. In our screening of Konya Şer'iye registration records, we found medical consent forms for three non-Ottoman foreign citizens. All three patients had the same medical illness and came to Konya for medical treatment. Therefore we emphasized that those patients searched for the name of doctor who was an authority on that illness. This study indicates that medical tourism may have occurred well before the 20th century