STOCKHOLM
President of the Medical Tourism Association Dr. Sinan Ibis said that the elderly people of Sweden could be taken care of in Turkey with less expenses and this initiative could make Turkey the "second home" for the Swedish elderly.
AA interviewed Ibis, who is in the delegation of the Turkish President Abdullah Gul at the state visit to Sweden, said that they were conducting meetings with the local administration, non-governmental organizations and state officers to make the Swedish elderly spend their life in Turkey under the scope of "elderly tourism".
The Swedish elderly people would from time to time want to go back to their country and environment but we would like to make Turkey as their "second home", said Ibis.
Sweden has the world's highest aging population and also cares the highest number of aged people, stated Ibis. He expressed that cold weather in the Scandinavian countries was not suitable for the life quality of the elderly and this caused an important problem to take care of them. Ibis put forth that Turkey with its geographical location, human resource, hospitality and social opportunities would be a favorable place for the aged people to maintain their lives.
"The municipality, when an elderly appeals for aid, sends in a personnel to help out with the necessary need. If the aged person has Alzheimer, dementia or a physical problem they send in a permanent personnel or institutionalize that person and pay all the expenses," said Ibis. He expressed that the Swedish state payed between five thousand 600 and five thousand 700 euro for an elderly who needed the lowest level of care in a maintenance facility. Ibis stated that this added up to as least 60 thousand euro yearly.
"We can make the care and treatment expenditures much more economic when we are in Turkey as we have prevalent human resource, our hospitals are strong and progressive, and our hospital costs are extremely low," said Ibis. "When we sum up the health and treatment expenses, we can serve this care much cheaper."
Ibis said that this was a field of operation which could carry interest for both of the countries but regulations and laws would need to be harmonized.
Reporting by Eda Ünlü Özen in Stokholm
