Alsacienne ;
please you don't go to Turkey.
I think you must go to armenia.

What do you mean by that Istanbul29?

luci

I think; Alsacienne hate Turks.
You can see that other topics too

There is nothing in Alsacienne's posts to suggest that she hates Turks. All she is doing is giving good accurate advice.

luci

Istanbul29 - what Alsacienne means is that Turkey is not in the European Union and therefore a British holidaymaker cannot use a European Health Insurance Card to obtain free medical treatment. They must have proper travel insurance to cover these costs. That is all she is saying - nothing offensive!

I know the travel insurance advice is being done to death on here - but that is why all the tour operators insist that you have it. All companies will have a helpline (usuaklly 24 hours) for this and will either pre-authorise treatment and send to a specific hospital/doctor, or assist.

However in this case it does sound like the poor girl was taken for a ride and thank goodness that you have people you know there who could help out.

Remember technically speaking any tourists in the UK using the NHS without a EHIC should be charged.

For the record, I would just like to state publicly that I have absolutely NOTHING against Turkey or its nationals. There are many Turkish nationals in my part of France with whom I live very peaceably ... we're both considered as foreigners over here! I also have good relationships with them and with the Turkish community in a border town in Germany.

I have been to Turkey twice on holiday in the past few years and will be returning in the Autumn. It's a great country, and I always enjoy myself .... and I live in local hotels not big international resorts.

Please, HT members, don't judge all Turks by such a misguided poster as Istanbul29.

To be fair I think misunderstandings are common in text conversations and even moreso when one person is using a second language.

there was an article in the paper saying that some surgeons were asking for blood money up front .(for themselves )before they would operate.then on top of that you had to pay for the operation and hospital fees.john

I have only had one experience of hospitals in turkey, which was when my daughter was bitten by mosquitos so badly around her eyes that they closed up.
The hospital, really clean and well managed , treated her quickly and there was no mention of payment of any kind once they had copied insurance details from policy.
Nor did I hear anything from insurance on return to UK about excesses etc.

Incidentally, does anyone know if there is a minmum level of cover that insurance companies can offer for holiday travel, or are they all different. Its such a pain reading the small print and comparing.

A couple of years ago whilst staying in Marmaris i had a really bad back could hardly walk or move luckly we were staying behind Hetman hospital and i wanaged to walk there.
As soon as i got in there i was seen no waiting and the doctor and nurse were great. I had to have two injections which i could hardly feel (not like back at home)
I had to pay £50 but the next morning the back pain was gone and without there help it would have ruined the rest of my holiday. So it was £50 well spent.
I always take pain killers calpol for the kids as well as other medical supplies in case any thing should happen.

two years ago my husband became very ill with food poisoning, the hotel rang for a doctor, someone came to our hotel and took us to see dr borra, he was marvelous, gave my hubby an injection, and some prescriptions, his assistant then took us to the chemist and back to our hotel.
i took our insurance documents with us, we had a £50 access, i offered them to the receptionist, who said the treatment only cost thirty pounds, and not to bother with the insurance, we had to return in two days to see the doctor,we did this and weren't charged anymore.
thank goodness for doctor borra .

Hi, we too have a very bad experience with a hospital in Turkey. It was the Aspendos Hospital in Belek. My husband, 2 children and myself were on holiday, in Belek in August 2008. My husband fell off a step on a small bridge over the pool at our hotel, badly injuring his foot.( 2nd day of our holiday) I went to the hotel Doctor who sent for an ambulance, at the hospital they took xrays and told us my husbands foot was broke. He was put in cast for the rest of our holiday. On return to the UK I took him straight to our local hospital where they looked at the xrays and we were informed the foot was not broken. The cast was removed and then it was discovered my husband had a DVT, caused by his leg being in plaster. We are devastated, this could have been fatal. This cost us 704 Euro!!! Wondering if anyone has any advice where to go from here regarding suing the hospital.

Thanks in advance

You must be devastated. I am so sorry to hear of such a bad experience.

To be honest I really think if you wish to sue a Turkish Hospital a holiday forum is not the place to come for advice. You need to talk to a solicitor. Perhaps someone who specialises in foreign law.

I dont think many on here would know how to sue someone in this country without specialsed help let alone abroad and outside of the EU.

I hope your husband makes a full recovery.

sorry to hear of your hubbys problems, but i think suing a turkish hospital would be a nightmare and very long process, i know a few people that have tried to sue turkish builders and some are 2-3 years down the line and getting no where, another couple are uk retired police officers and they have now given up after a long battle getting no where. i would ask a uk solicitor for advice as chris suggested , good luck think you are sadly going to need it