Gastric Sleeve clinics in Istanbul

MyMediTravel lists 58 clinics and hospitals offering gastric sleeve surgery in Istanbul, 39 of which publish a package price. Prices run from $2,000 at Dorak Health and Medivia Hospital to $8,693 at KOC Healthcare, with a median of $3,313, and 33 of the 39 sit between $2,000 and $4,000. Istanbul is where Turkey's bariatric surgery is concentrated: it holds 59 of the 101 listings on the Turkey page, every large private hospital group, and most of the agencies that sell packages across the country. As everywhere in Turkey, the price is an all-inclusive package and the listing may be a hospital, a surgeon or an agency, so the name in the table needs reading with that in mind.

Gastric sleeve prices by clinic in Istanbul

The package "from" figure each listing displays on MyMediTravel. Twenty listings quote per case, including Memorial Sisli, Medical Park Atasehir and Gaziosmanpasa, Acibadem Taksim, Medipol Mega, Medicana International, Koc University Hospital and Yeditepe University Hospital, all JCI-accredited hospitals that quote after reviewing your history.

Two hospitals anchor the bottom of the table: Medivia Hospital at $2,000 and VM Hospitals at $2,500, the latter JCI accredited with 26 doctors listed. Between $2,500 and $3,000 sit the agencies, Global Medical Care, e-TurkishDoctors (35 doctors listed, JCI through its partner hospitals), Sanamentum, Forever Clinica, Medco, Mita and Healwide. From $3,000 to $4,000 are Lokman Hekim (JCI, established 1996), Academic Hospital (est. 1997, 15 doctors), the surgeon-led practices of Prof. Dr. Burak Kavlakoglu and Dr. Ibrahim Karatas, Clinic Bariatric (5 doctors, 6 reviews at 5.0), Hisar Intercontinental (JCI) and Asya Hospital (20 doctors, 5 reviews at 5.0). Above $4,000, Group Florence Nightingale at $5,500 is the best-known name, JCI accredited, established 1989 and listing 52 doctors; KOC Healthcare at $8,693 is the highest published price in the country.

What the package covers

An Istanbul package normally includes the operation, two to four hospital nights, pre-operative blood tests and an endoscopy or ultrasound, the leak test, take-home medication, transfers between airport, hospital and hotel, and hotel nights either side of the hospital stay. Flights are excluded. What varies is the hotel grade, whether a companion is included, the interpreter, and how much follow-up you get after you are home. A $2,500 package and a $3,500 one may be the same surgery with a different hotel and a different amount of aftercare, so compare the inclusions rather than the headline.

Hospital, surgeon or agency

Istanbul's listings split three ways. Hospitals own the theatre and the beds: VM, Medivia, Lokman Hekim, Hisar, Asya, Academic, Atlas University, Florence Nightingale, and the per-case groups (Memorial, Medical Park, Acibadem, Medipol, Medicana, Koc, Yeditepe, Liv). Surgeon-led practices are one named bariatric surgeon operating in a partner hospital: Kavlakoglu, Karatas, Mucteba Gunduz, Ceyhun Aydogan, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tugrul Demirel. Agencies sell the package and place you with a surgeon and hospital they contract with. All three can be right. Whatever the listing, the hospital where you will be operated on and the surgeon who will do it should be named in writing before you pay a deposit, and if a listing carries JCI accreditation but is not itself a hospital, ask which hospital that refers to.

Getting there, and how long to stay

Istanbul has two airports. Istanbul Airport (IST) on the European side handles most long-haul and Turkish Airlines flights; Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) on the Asian side handles many European low-cost routes. Hospitals are on both sides of the Bosphorus and the crossing can take an hour in traffic, so once you know your hospital, book the flight into the nearer airport; the package transfer will collect you either way. Plan seven to ten days: tests on arrival, surgery the next day, two to four nights in hospital including the leak test, then hotel nights until the surgeon clears you to fly, usually between day six and day nine. Liquids for about two weeks after surgery, soft food for two to four weeks after that, with the schedule in writing from the clinic's dietitian.

What to ask before you pay a deposit

• Which hospital is the operation performed in, on which side of the city, and which surgeon performs it?
• Exactly what is in the package: hospital nights, hotel nights and grade, tests, leak test, medication, transfers, companion?
• What is the surgeon's annual volume of sleeve gastrectomies, and their leak and complication rate?
• What happens if there is a complication after you fly home, and who pays?
• How is follow-up handled at one, three, six and twelve months, and is a dietitian included?

Send one enquiry through this page and the clinics reply naming the hospital, the surgeon and the full package inclusions, so the quotes compare like for like. Free, no obligation, and MyMediTravel checks in after your treatment.