The cost of a kidney transplant in Turkey generally ranges from $18,000 to $21,100. Prices vary depending on the hospital, the surgeon’s experience, donor type (living or deceased), and the complexity of pre- and post-op care. In the United States, the average cost is $400,000 (per UNOS). That means kidney transplant surgery in Turkey is about 95% less than in the U.S.
Turkish hospitals usually include pre-transplant evaluation, surgery for both donor and recipient, anesthesia, hospital stay (7–14 days), immunosuppressive medications for the first month, and follow-up visits. In the U.S., costs are often split between hospital, surgeon, anesthesia, and post-op care, with medications and donor surgery frequently billed separately. Always confirm exactly what’s included with each clinic.
Why do patients choose Turkey for a kidney transplant?
Access advanced kidney transplant solutions in trusted clinics from $20,000.
| Turkey | Austria | Spain | |
| Kidney transplant | from $18,000 | from $95,000 | from $80,000 |
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Prof. Baris Akin has performed 1,200+ kidney transplants over 8 years and is certified by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. The all-inclusive package costs around 18,000 EUR/USD and covers transplantation surgery, 7 nights for recipient and 3 for donor, pre-op tests, meals, and airport transfers. The hospital is JCI and ISO certified with multidisciplinary post-op care.
Dr. Mesut Pekmez brings 23 years of kidney transplant experience with 900+ procedures performed. The package may cost around €14,500, typically covering surgery for both recipient and donor, 15 nights hospitalization for recipient (3 days ICU), 7 nights for donor, preoperative tests, and transfers. Lokman Hekim University Hospital holds International Health Tourism Authorization and ISO certification, with 82 ICU beds dedicated to transplant care.
Prof. Dr. Bulent Unal brings 29 years of kidney transplant expertise with 900+ procedures performed. Live donor transplants may cost around $22,000 – typically covering surgery, ICU, up to 15 days hospitalization for patient and 10 days for donor, plus all pre-op tests and transfers. His international training includes fellowships in Spain and USA. The clinic holds Turkish Medical Association accreditation and achieves a 4.9/5 patient rating.
Prof. Dr. Kamil Yalçın Polat has performed 900 kidney transplants over 34 years, pioneering Turkey's first robotic kidney transplant. The procedure may cost around $18,000 – typically covering surgery, 7 nights for the patient, 3 nights for the donor, compatibility tests, and transfers. Memorial Bahçelievler maintains a 99% success rate with 300+ transplants annually. The JCI-accredited hospital offers both classical and robot-assisted approaches using the Da Vinci system.
Dr. Erhan Tatar, a nephrology professor with 900+ kidney transplants performed, offers living-donor procedures at this JCI-accredited hospital. The package may cost around $19,000–25,000 USD, typically covering surgery, 7 days hospital stay, 7–15 days hotel accommodation, meals, and transfers. The clinic maintains low infection rates and holds TEMOS and EFQM accreditations. Dr. Tatar is an ERA-EDTA member with specialized training in nephrology.
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Prof. Dr. Bulent Unal brings over 25 years of expertise in organ transplant procedures, recognized for outstanding achievements in liver transplantation.
Dr. Pekmez specializes in kidney transplants at Lokman Hekim University Ankara Hospital, bringing extensive surgical experience to complex cases.
Prof. Bulent Unal leads the Department of General Surgery and Surgical Oncology at Florence Nightingale Hospital, specializing in complex kidney transplants.
Renowned liver transplant expert with extensive experience at İnönü University Liver Transplant Institute – now leading Florence Nightingale Hospital's surgical oncology department.
Written by Ana Hurevska
International patients are eligible for kidney transplant in Turkey primarily through living donor programs involving relatives up to the 4th degree. Candidates must have end-stage renal disease with a glomerular filtration rate below 20. Legal documentation and extensive medical testing for both donor and recipient are mandatory.
Bookimed Expert Insight: While deceased donor organs are reserved for Turkish citizens, living donor transplants are highly efficient for international patients. Clinics like Memorial Şişli Hospital report a 90% success rate. Choosing a university hospital like Medipol Mega provides access to over 400 specialists for complex cases.
Patient Consensus: Many find the process efficient once documents are notarized, but expect a 4-week timeline from testing to surgery. Multilingual coordination teams effectively bridge communication gaps during psychological evaluations.
A paired kidney exchange is a cross-transplant procedure involving two incompatible donor-recipient pairs. When a donor cannot give a kidney to their intended recipient due to blood type or HLA mismatch, clinics swap kidneys between both pairs to create two compatible transplant chain links.
Bookimed Expert Insight: While many Turkish clinics list cross-transplant options, this pathway requires high-volume infrastructure. Centers like Memorial Şişli or Istanbul Florence Nightingale are better equipped because they manage larger donor pools. These facilities have performed thousands of transplants, which increases the statistical likelihood of finding a compatible swap partner quickly.
Patient Consensus: Patients often describe the exchange as a kidney swap chain. They emphasize that while logistics are complex, early pre-testing is essential to avoid emotional disappointment if a chain breaks.
Living donors in Turkey must have a documented familial relationship or a verified social bond with the recipient. Turkish law permits related donors up to the fourth degree, including parents, children, siblings, and cousins. All unrelated donors or spouses must pass a government-supervised Ethics Committee to ensure the donation remains voluntary.
Bookimed Expert Insight: Clinics like Istinye University Liv Hospital and Medical Park Antalya offer extended 25 to 30-day hotel stays within their packages. While the surgical recovery is shorter, these long stays facilitate the essential post-operative monitoring required for donor safety before international travel.
Patient Consensus: International patients must legally provide a living donor as deceased donor organs are reserved for Turkish citizens. Prepare for thorough interviews as courts verify marriage length and relationship authenticity to rule out unethical practices.
Liv Hospital reports a historical volume of over 5,000 kidney transplants and more than 1,000 liver transplants. The center maintains a 98.6% 1-year graft survival rate for kidney procedures. These high success rates are supported by robotic-assisted surgery and specialized pediatric transplant programs.
Bookimed Expert Insight: The high success rates at Liv Hospital are directly tied to surgeon volume. Professor Ayhan Dincan, who leads the transplant center, has personally performed over 5,000 kidney transplants. This level of repetition reduces surgical complications and is rare outside of Turkey’s largest medical hubs.
Patient Consensus: Patients value the speed of the process and high survival rates. Many report seeing rejection rates under 2% during their first year following aggressive immunosuppression protocols.
Patients typically stay in Turkey for 21 to 30 days for a kidney transplant. This duration includes a mandatory hospital stay of 7 to 15 days for monitoring. You should remain in a nearby hotel for another 7 to 15 days before flying home.
Bookimed Expert Insight: Turkish university hospitals like Medipol or Istanbul Florence Nightingale prioritize creatinine stability below 1.5 before discharge. While some packages list 7 days, our data shows most international cases require 10 to 14 days for safety. Always book flexible return flights to accommodate these critical medical milestones.
Patient Consensus: Patients emphasize budgeting for an extra 2 weeks of stay in case of minor infections. Many found that daily bloodwork monitoring in Istanbul provided peace of mind before the long flight home.
Patients should plan to stay in Turkey for 6 to 8 weeks to complete a kidney transplant. This timeframe includes 2 weeks for pre-operative compatibility testing, 7 to 15 days of mandatory hospitalization, and approximately 4 weeks of local post-operative monitoring to manage immunosuppressant dosages.
Bookimed Expert Insight: While many clinics suggest a 4-week stay, our data shows patients often face 2-week bureaucratic delays for unrelated donor approvals. Choosing centers like Memorial Şişli Hospital, which has a 90% success rate and serves 167 countries, ensures experienced staff navigate these non-medical hurdles efficiently.
Patient Consensus: Travelers emphasize budgeting for a 3-month visa to accommodate unexpected 2-week buffers. Daily clinic visits for the first month make staying in nearby 4-star hotels or clinic-provided apartments essential for practical recovery.
The Cross-Transplant program is a surgical solution for donor-recipient pairs facing blood type or tissue incompatibility. It allows two or more incompatible pairs to swap donors, ensuring each recipient receives a biological match. Turkish clinics perform these surgeries simultaneously to ensure legal and ethical security for all parties.
Bookimed Expert Insight: Data shows that hospital stays in Turkey for cross-transplants are exceptionally long, often 10–15 days. Clinics like Memorial Bahçelievler Hospital and Lokman Hekim University Ankara Hospital prioritize these extended stays. This provides a critical safety margin for monitoring complex immunological responses immediately after incompatible swaps.
Patient Consensus: Patients emphasize the importance of screening for HLA antibodies locally before traveling. This proactive step helps avoid long waiting periods for rare donor matches once in Turkey.
Legal kidney donors in Turkey must be at least 18 years old and in excellent health. Foreign patients must bring their own living donor, as deceased Turkish citizens cannot provide organs to non-citizens. Eligibility primarily depends on documented kinship or approval from an Ethics Committee.
Bookimed Expert Insight: While many think unrelated donation is impossible, Turkish Ethics Committees approved several cases based on documented long-term friendships. Clinics like Istinye University Liv Hospital provide extensive hotel stays up to 30 days. This buffer is vital because the Ethics Committee review process can take several days before surgery.
Patient Consensus: Patients emphasize having all kinship documents translated and notarized before arrival. They report feeling reassured by the strict committee interviews that ensure ethical practices and donor safety.
Turkish surgeons primarily use laparoscopic or robotic-assisted donor nephrectomy, significantly reducing trauma compared to traditional open surgery. Donor scars consist of 3–4 small portals measuring 0.5–1 cm and a 5 cm incision for kidney extraction. Recipient incisions generally measure 7–10 cm and utilize muscle-sparing techniques.
Bookimed Expert Insight: Turkish clinics like Istinye University Liv Hospital and Memorial Şişli maintain high success rates by prioritizing robotic-assisted techniques. Dr. Ayhan Dinсkan alone has managed over 5,000 kidney transplants. This high volume allows surgeons to master single-port laparoscopy. This specialized approach can reduce the typical 5 cm extraction scar to an almost invisible mark.
Patient Consensus: Patients report that following the provided silicone sheet and vitamin E protocols helps scars fade significantly within 6 months. Many are surprised that recipient marks are much smaller than the traditional 15 cm scars they expected.
Turkey’s paired kidney exchange program involves matching donor-recipient pairs who are blood type or tissue incompatible. This national medical initiative swaps donors between families so each patient receives a compatible organ. These simultaneous surgeries maintain high success rates and include complex domino chains of up to 7 pairs.
Bookimed Expert Insight: While public hospitals manage most local cases, private centers like Istinye University Liv Hospital Bahcesehir offer specialized packages. Their all-inclusive options include up to 30 days of hotel stay. This long-term accommodation is vital because post-operative follow-up typically lasts 3 to 6 months. High-volume surgeons like Dr. Ayhan Dinсkan have completed over 5,000 kidney transplants.
Patient Consensus: Patients value the speed of the national matching system, which can find compatible donors in 3 weeks. They emphasize the importance of thorough HLA testing to ensure a successful match in these complex chains.
International patients must bring original passports for the recipient and donor, valid for at least 6 months. You need notarized, translated proof of kinship up to the fourth degree, medical history including dialysis records, and financial proof to satisfy Turkish ethics committee requirements for transplant procedures.
Bookimed Expert Insight: While basic documents are standard, clinics like Medical Park Antalya and Florence Nightingale often require a specific genetic relation affidavit. Data suggests patients should prepare three copies in a bilingual binder. This saves time during clinic ethics reviews where small errors lead to 14-day delays.
Patient Consensus: Patients emphasize hiring a dedicated medical translator for legal sessions despite having apps. They suggest budgeting up to $500 for local notary fees once you arrive in Istanbul.
Post-transplant medication requires a lifelong commitment to immunosuppressants like tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil to prevent organ rejection. For the first 3 to 6 months, patients also take prophylactic antivirals and antibiotics. Turkish transplant centers often include initial medications in packages ranging from _op_31_price_from_ to _op_31_price_to_.
Bookimed Expert Insight: Turkish university hospitals like Lokman Hekim or Medipol often provide more comprehensive long-term recovery support. Their all-inclusive packages cover up to 15 days of hospitalization and 7 days of hotel stay. This extended monitoring ensures stable drug blood levels before you fly home.
Patient Consensus: Many patients find that the intensive monitoring starts weekly and tapers to monthly after 1 year. They recommend tracking side effects like sun sensitivity and tremors early to request quick dosage adjustments.
Wait times for living-donor kidney transplants in Turkey are significantly shorter than in the USA or Western Europe. Once a suitable family donor is identified and evaluations are complete, surgeries occur within weeks to 3 months. In contrast, patients in the US or UK often wait 3 to 5 years.
Bookimed Expert Insight: Turkey ranks first globally for living-donor activity, which creates a highly efficient surgical infrastructure. While US centers struggle with insurance bureaucracy, Turkish facilities like Memorial Sisli maintain a 90% success rate. Leading surgeons like Ayhan Dinсkan have performed over 5,000 kidney transplants. This volume allows clinics to offer fixed-price packages starting from _op_31_price_from_ that include all-inclusive surgical and donor services.
Patient Consensus: Patients value the speed of the Turkish private system, allowing them to skip years of dialysis lists. Many recommend completing HLA typing early to ensure donor compatibility before traveling for the 2–6 week stay.