Health-tourism intermediary
Definition
A health-tourism intermediary (aracı kuruluş) is a company authorised by USHAŞ to advise patients coming to Türkiye from abroad and to organise their treatment facility, accommodation, transport and transfers.
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What does an intermediary do?
Türkiye's Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health defines an intermediary as an organisation, run by an authorised legal entity, that advises international patients and their companions and arranges the treatment facility, accommodation, transport and transfers. Most companies known as health-tourism agencies or facilitators fall within this definition. USHAŞ issues the certificate, and every intermediary and every branch needs its own.
Unless it is itself a licensed travel agency, an intermediary must provide accommodation, transport and transfers through licensed travel agencies. It also needs a call centre able to answer in at least two foreign languages around the clock, either its own or one it contracts.
Two rules that matter to clinics
- A health facility may not use people or companies without an authorisation certificate for work that an intermediary must do.
- A health facility may accept international patients who come to it directly, without an intermediary.
Sources
- Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health (Turkish text) — Official Gazette, 26 April 2025
- Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health, current text (Turkish) — Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi
- Intermediary authorisation certificate: frequently asked questions (Turkish) — USHAŞ
- USHAŞ: Founding law (Turkish) — USHAŞ
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