History of Health Tourism in Izmir

Do you know what makes Izmir so historic on medical tourism?
There is a legacy behind Izmir's deep-rooted history on medical and thermal tourism, the legacy from prehistoric times to the present day. Pergamon-Asclepion (The Temple of Aesculepius) was the leading health center of its period in Anatolia in ancient times. Asclepion is one of the three major health centers dedicated to Aesculepius, the Pergamon Health God. There is also a figuration of a double snake which is the symbol of medicine on a stone column in the Asclepion. Gelanus, also known as the father of pharmacology, had healed many people in Pergamon, Asclepion.

Asclepion, one of the famous health centers of antiquity, is known as the point of departure of not only scientific studies on human health but also medical interventions and pharmacy.

Treatment methods applied were the following:

• Interpretation of dreams by priest practitioners putting patients to sleep in sleeping rooms for whose mental illness. (a kind of suggestion therapy)
• Treatment with hot, cold and mud baths in physical disease.
• Treatment with herbs
• Diet cures
• Messages made with herbal oil or oinments
• Bloodletting
• Sunbathing therapies
• Surgical interventions were performed when necessary.

Today in Izmir, there are medical faculties in many universities, expert doctors and specialist health teams in private and public hospitals with accreditation matching the international criteria. All kinds of surgical interventions, even organ transplants, can be performed easily. All of these are the ultimate proof that Izmir has a remarkable potential in the field of health tourism and the sector which continues to develop rapidly. In addition, the support of the state to health tourism plays big role of this historic development. Some of the hospitals in Izmir work in connection with abroad, and all kinds of services for the treatment, transportation and accommodation of the patients from abroad within the scope of health tourism are offered all together in a package.