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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
For several months, videos of influencers abroad, mainly in Turkey, have been circulating, having gone to get a complete health check-up. Is this “diagnostic tourism” of any real interest? The opinion of Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician.
If you follow influencer Poopi on TikTok, you may have seen in one of her latest videos that she went – like many other influencers before her – to Turkey to get a “complete health check-up.”
What does this battery of tests consist of?
In the short video, the influencer can be seen throughout her examination process called “VIP check-up for women”. In a voiceover, she explains that she was met by a private driver upon her arrival in Turkey.
He took her to a “modern and luxurious hospital” – the Memorial Hospital in Istanbul – where she spent five hours undergoing various health examinations, accompanied by a translator: stress test, thyroid ultrasound, dental panoramic, mammogram, bone densitometry, cardiac ultrasound, chest X-ray, eye test, visit to the ENT specialist…
During this marathon day, a “meal is included in the package” in one of the hospital’s many restaurants. At the end of the examinations, a complete file summarizing her results was given to her, before she left the hospital, still accompanied by her driver.
Medical tourism criticized by experts
This type of “all-inclusive package” is increasingly promoted by influencers, who praise the “all-inclusive” side of the offers and the possibility of obtaining analyses in record time. But doctors do not adhere to this practice, for several reasons.
In an article published by the Daily Mail On the subject, experts are denouncing on social networks the risk of “false positives” linked to erroneous results. Dr. Ashley Winter, a urologist based in Los Angeles, explains: “A wrong result can cause fear, anxiety and, at worst, unnecessary invasive procedures – such as surgery.”
Health examinations that have a cost
An observation shared by Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo.The VIP check-up is a battery of complementary tests to detect and diagnose pathologies before symptoms appear” “believes the doctor.”These tests are, on the one hand, not all useful – depending on the age and history of the patient – but also involve risks for some, in particular irradiation by X-rays, for imaging examinations”.
The other drawback: they are expensive. Influencer Poopi does not give the cost of her visit to Turkey in the video but reveals it in the comments at the request of Internet users.I took the VIP women check-up at €750 and I added the ENT at €150 and gynecological samples at €400.“. A total of 1300 euros for the young woman, without the trip.
Other influencers are shedding light on the cost of this medical day. In the Daily Mail reporting the experience of another influencer, we can read that the trip and the day of exams cost her $1,500.Much less than it would have cost in the United States and much faster.” she justifies herself, explaining that she has medical follow-up to carry out. But ultimately, nothing says that all these influencers are not paid – in return – to promote this type of service…
A good medical check-up should be discussed with your doctor
Should we give in to the sirens of these preventive medical examinations and carry out “a good check-up” as these influencers boast? For Dr. Gérald Kierzek, “A good check-up should be discussed with your doctor to guide the examinations: for example, a smoker should be able to have a prescription for chest scan which will be reimbursed to him”. He also reminds us not to forget the annual visit to the dentist and the ophthalmologist.
And concedes only one advantage to this “VIP package”: “The only advantage is that these tests are done quickly and that they are grouped together in the same place.“.