Rwanda’s medical tourism is set to get a big boost, thanks to Turkey’s new initiative to allow and promote medical observership programmes between the two countries. 

The initiative, supported by Medical Park Hospitals Group of Turkey in collaboration with the Turkish Airlines, seeks to enhance the exchange of knowledge, skills and expertise between the two countries, said Hacim Crikil, the business development specialist and head of international patient directorship, Medical Park Hospitals Group in Turkey.

Crikil, who was speaking during a recent meeting with Rwandan doctors in Istanbul, Turkey, recently, said the initiative is expected to make it easy for Rwandans to travel to Turkey for medical services.

"As Medical Park Hospitals Group we care about sharing our accumulated knowledge and modern treatment methods with our colleagues and people around the world,” Crikil noted.

Through this programme, Rwandan doctors have a chance to share experiences and knowledge on oncological surgery, pediatric oncology, gynecologic oncology, urooncology, radiation oncology radiotherapy (linac, hipec) tomotherapy gamma knife and medical oncology, among others, with their Turkish counterparts.

Beating heart bypass surgeries, interventional cardiology procedures, Permanent or temporary cardiac pacemaker implantations, balloon valvuloplasty, electrophysiology studies , congenital heart defect corrective surgeries (ASD, VSD, PDA), carotid artery stenosis and peripheral artery stenosis are some of the areas the observer-ship programme intends to prioritise.

"The idea is to allow Rwandan doctors to go to Turkey for medical observership programmes, while opening doors for Rwandans to visit the country for any kind of medical attention,” Murat Meric, the corporation’s supervisor at Medical Park Hospital Group said.

Our guiding corporate criteria are and will be to share our expertise to deliver the best and affordable healthcare to the people. Continuous investment in our human resources, medical technologies and facilities, without making any concession on the code of medical ethics or patient rights is the ultimate objective of this mission, he added.

Omer Faruk Korkmaz, the Turkish Airline’s general manger for Rwanda, said the initiative is designed to boost both bilateral and economic relationships between Rwanda and Turkey.

"We are already organising orientation medical trips for doctors, experts and medical professors from both countries to travel and visit each other so they can be able to come up with modalities on how to work together,” Korkmaz told The New Times in an earlier interview.

Statistics indicate that only 4 per cent Africans travel to Europe for medical reasons, while almost 96 per cent go to India for similar services.

Doctors welcome the initiative

Dr Nathan Ruhamya, a cardiologist at King Faisal Hospital, Rwanda, said, the programme is an opportunity to boost medical skills in Rwanda.

"We believe that through these programmes we will be able to acquire knowledge and skills that we can use to strengthen our medical services in Rwanda,” Dr Ruhamya said.

Already, a group of Rwandan doctors has paid a visit to some of the Medical Park Hospital Group’s facilities in Turkey and both parties are fine tuning procedures to make the programme a success.