Which Istanbul hospitals treat international patients, and how do you check them?
Istanbul's international-patient hospital market spans hospital groups, university hospitals, single hospitals and specialist eye and aesthetic centres. They cannot be ranked from public information. What separates them is which building treats you, what that building can show at a register, and which entity you contract with. Verify the hospital's Ministry of Health authorisation, its accreditation at the accreditor's own register, and the authorisation of any intermediary before you pay.[2][4]
The hospitals side by side
Every figure is the institution's own, read from its public pages on 14 October 2026 (Memorial: the hospital's own pages, read by hand). This compares what each says about itself; it is not a ranking.
Hospital groups
| Name | Scale (self-reported) | Where | Accreditation claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acıbadem | 30 hospitals, 17 medical centres, 5 countries | Twelve Istanbul hospitals incl. Maslak and International (Yeşilköy) | “JCI Approved Hospitals (7)”, not named on the page we read |
| Florence Nightingale | Founded 1989 | Şişli, Gayrettepe, Kadıköy, Ataşehir; Center for International Patients | JCI (timeline: 2004) and ISO 9001 (2001); campus not specified |
| Liv Hospital | Eight hospitals under MLP Care; Ulus opened 2013; no bed numbers printed | Ulus and Vadistanbul (Ayazağa) | Ulus page: “JCI” without campus or date; the JCI page itself gives no claim |
| Medical Park | Since 1993; group size stated as 25, 27 and 30+ | Istanbul (Göztepe, Bahçelievler, Florya, Pendik, Ataşehir) and Antalya | JCI named for Göztepe and Bahçelievler; none attached to Antalya |
| Medicana | Founded 1992; 16 hospitals, 3 medical centres, 4.5M patients a year | Multiple Istanbul hospitals incl. International İstanbul (Beylikdüzü), Ataşehir, Ataköy | Per hospital: TÜSKA, AACI; JCI at Bursa only |
University hospitals
| Name | Scale (self-reported) | Where | Accreditation claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Koç University Hospital | Opened 2014; 410 single rooms, 23 operating rooms (2019) | Topkapı, Health Sciences Campus; sister of American Hospital in Koç Healthcare | None named on the pages read |
| Medipol Mega | Opened 2012; group-wide 1,200+ doctors; no bed numbers printed | Bağcılar; the group lists ten more Istanbul hospitals | JCI stated for Mega only, no year |
| Yeditepe University Hospitals | Kozyatağı 190 beds (2005); Koşuyolu 180 beds | Kozyatağı (Ataşehir) and Koşuyolu (Kadıköy) | JCI names Koşuyolu only; two timelines on its own pages |
Single hospitals
| Name | Scale (self-reported) | Where | Accreditation claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Hospital | Founded 1920; 278 rooms, 12 operating rooms; Vehbi Koç Foundation | One campus, Nişantaşı | JCI (first issued 2002), ISO 9001 / 14001 / 27001 |
| Anadolu Medical Center | Founded 2005; Gebze about 188,000 m² of land | Gebze (Kocaeli); smaller Ataşehir site | JCI and others, no years or buildings; Johns Hopkins relationship described two ways |
| Hisar Intercontinental | Started 2005; 270 beds, 7 operating rooms | One site, Ümraniye | JCI survey May 2024, valid to May 2027 (stated) |
| Memorial Ataşehir | Opened 2010; 144 beds on a 22,000 m² campus | One campus, Ataşehir (Memorial Hospitals Group) | Not yet checked at the registers |
Specialist (eye, aesthetic)
| Name | Scale (self-reported) | Where | Accreditation claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dünyagöz | 21 branches in Türkiye; abroad counted as 8, 9 or 10 | Nine Istanbul centres and others across Türkiye | JCI audit 2006, ISO 9001 2007; buildings not stated |
Specialist clinics
Clinics led by one surgeon or a small team. Each page says who operates, in which hospital where relevant, and which claims are still to check.
- ASMED Surgical Medical Center — Hair restoration, Ataşehir
- Cosmedica Clinic — Hair restoration, Etiler / Şişli
- Dr. Özlem Biçer MD Clinic — Hair restoration, Ataşehir
- Dr. Serkan Aygın Clinic — Hair restoration, Şişli
- Dr. Yetkin Bayer Clinic — Hair restoration, Beşiktaş
- Estetik International — Aesthetic surgery, Mecidiyeköy / Şişli
- Esteworld — Aesthetic surgery, Altunizade, Üsküdar
- Nişantaşı Ortopedi Merkezi — Orthopaedics, Beşiktaş
- Prive Clinic — Aesthetic surgery, Kadıköy
- Quartz Clinique — Aesthetic surgery, Nişantaşı, Şişli
- Smile Hair Clinic — Hair restoration, Ümraniye
What actually differs between them
One building or a network. A single hospital such as the American Hospital or Hisar Intercontinental is one place that can be looked up by name. A group such as Medicana, Acıbadem or Medical Park is a network, and the hospital that treats you can be any of several, so a group-level claim tells you little about yours.
How accreditation is held. Medicana lists accreditations against named hospitals, hospital by hospital. Acıbadem lists JCI for seven hospitals without naming them on the page we read. The American Hospital makes the most specific claim, a JCI certificate first issued in 2002. Florence Nightingale lists JCI in its timeline. Each is a claim to check at the register.[4]
Who the international desk is built for. Florence Nightingale names the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans and Eastern Europe as the regions its Center for International Patients serves; Acıbadem describes Health Point offices in 33 countries; Medicana runs an international website. If you are travelling from the UK or Western Europe, ask each desk about your language and about follow-up at home.
How to verify any Turkish hospital: five steps
- Confirm the facility is licensed and authorised to treat international patients
- Identify who you are contracting withThe hospital, its group and an intermediary that arranges your stay can be separate legal entities. Intermediaries are authorised separately from hospitals.[3] Ask for the name of whoever invoices you and check that entity.
- Check accreditation at the accreditor, not on the hospital's website
- Ask for the named consultant and their case numbersA hospital group does not operate on you; a surgeon does. Ask who will be responsible for your care, how many of your procedure they performed in the last twelve months, and how many had complications.
- Get the price, the exclusions and the aftercare in writingAsk what the written price includes, what happens if you need a longer stay or a return to theatre, who is responsible for follow-up after you fly home, in which language and for how long, and what records you will receive.
Read each group in full
Related questions
Which is the best hospital in Istanbul for foreigners?
We cannot name one from public information and we do not rank hospitals. The hospitals on this page differ in setting, specialities and how their accreditations are held; the right choice depends on the procedure and the named consultant. Use the five steps on this page to verify any of them.
Are Turkish hospitals JCI accredited?
Some state that they are. JCI accreditation belongs to an individual hospital and is listed in JCI's public register, so check the specific building. Hospitals also state other accreditations, such as TÜSKA, AACI and ISO, which are different bodies and mean different things.[4]
How do I check a Turkish hospital is authorised to treat foreigners?
Look the hospital up in the Ministry of Health's published lists of facilities holding a health-tourism authorisation, and check any agency arranging your stay separately.[2]
Is a hospital group's accreditation valid for every hospital in the group?
No. Accreditation is awarded to a specific hospital. Medicana's quality page, for example, lists accreditations against named hospitals, and Acıbadem states JCI accreditation for seven of its hospitals without naming them on the page we read.
Does TurkeyHealth.care take commission from these hospitals?
No. We hold no agreement with any hospital, take no commission and have not been paid by any of them. None reviewed these pages.
TurkeyHealth.care is independent. We hold no agreement with any hospital named here, take no commission and have been paid nothing; none reviewed these pages. Last reviewed October 2026.
Gizem Burteçin founded TurkeyHealth.care after two decades building platforms, communities and ecosystems across e-commerce, marketplaces, coworking and AI — including senior roles at Alibaba.com and Doğuş Holding, and the 2013 founding of Yaşa Devam at Doğuş, Türkiye's first platform focused on aging well. Editorial responsibility for everything published on TurkeyHealth.care sits with the founder: no payment is taken for coverage, and every page is read by a person before it goes live.
LinkedIn →Sources
Every register and professional body this guide relies on, so that the figures above can be checked at the organisation that publishes them rather than taken from us.
- 1.T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı — Ministry of Health of Türkiye
Licenses every clinic and hospital operating in Türkiye, and issues the separate health tourism authorisation a facility needs before it may treat international patients.
- 2.T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı, Sağlık Turizmi Daire Başkanlığı — authorised facilities and intermediary agenciesOfficial register
The Ministry's own index of who holds a health tourism authorisation certificate, linking the facility list and the intermediary list. This is the page to check a clinic against, and checking it takes about two minutes.
- 3.USHAŞ — International Health Services
The Ministry of Health's own body for international patients. Publishes which facilities hold health tourism authorisation, and takes complaints from patients treated in Türkiye.
- 4.Joint Commission International — accredited organisations registerThird-party accreditor
The public register of JCI-accredited hospitals. A hospital's accreditation is either in this register or it is not, which makes it checkable in a way that a badge on the hospital's own website is not.
- 5.TÜSKA — Türkiye Sağlık Hizmetleri Kalite ve Akreditasyon EnstitüsüOfficial register
The accreditation institute's own notice to authorised facilities about the 31 December 2026 deadline, and what it says will happen to those that have not completed the process. Its register of accredited organisations is where a claim to hold the accreditation can be checked.
Listing a body here is not a claim of endorsement by it. Where a figure could not be traced to a source of this kind, it was removed from the guide rather than published unattributed.