Arriving from thousands of kilometers away, a woman and a man found new life in Turkey where their spouses donated them kidneys. The recipients thanked the country for giving them an opportunity to regain their health.

Rebecca Kirima of Uganda and Mustafa Kvagic from Bosnia-Herzegovina were awaiting appropriate kidney donors when their spouses’ kidneys were found to be incompatible. The couples decided to travel to Turkey for the transplants recently and underwent surgeries in the private Hizmet hospital in Istanbul.

With highly qualified personnel and state-of-art health care facilities, Turkey seeks to boost its share in the global market for medical tourism that has reached $100 billion annually, with consumer spending an estimated average of $10,000. From dental implants to hair transplantation and kidney exchanges, the country offers every health service for medical tourists at competitive prices and with successful operation rates.

The Ugandan and Bosnian families checked in at the hospital in Istanbul recently and received kidneys from their respective spouses. Mustafa’s wife Inela donated her kidney to Rebecca while Rebecca’s husband John Kirima donated his kidney to Mustafa.

"I have been suffering from kidney problems for the past two years. I found out about my condition while I was pregnant. It was a difficult time. I went into a coma for four days," Rebecca Kirima recounted her ordeal. "Thanks to Inela, my life is back to normal," she added. Her husband John said that Rebecca was hooked to a dialysis machine for one year and they decided to travel to Turkey when they found a suitable donor.

Mustafa Kvagic, who was suffering from kidney failure since last year, said he chose Turkey for transplant, "because I love this country and it has good transplant services." "I am grateful to John. He made me healthy again," he said while his wife Inela said her happiness "doubled" because her husband regained his health and she was able to help the recovery of Rebecca.

Kidney exchange is a popular method for patients who are in urgent need of transplants. Dr. Serkan Akıncı, who oversaw the exchange between the Ugandan and Bosnian couples, say they perform it if recipients and donors are incompatible due to different blood types or problems in immunological tests.

Every year, hundreds of foreigners arrive in Turkey for liver and kidney transplants from live donors who are their relatives or those who agreed to a kidney exchange. In 2018, the latest year with available data, some 391 foreigners received kidney transplants while 198 were operated on for liver transplants, according to Health Ministry figures. The high survival rate is also among the factors attracting patients from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas to Turkey.

Ironically, Turkey itself struggles to convince more people to donate their organs. Religious or cultural misconceptions prevent most from donating, while clerics and government agencies campaign to persuade potential donors. Some 30,000 patients are on the waiting list for transplants in the country with about 23,000 awaiting kidney transplants, where transplants and organ donations decreased during the past two years amid the COVID-19 pandemic as people steered clear of donations.