Turkishdoc
He Set A Growth Target In The Far East Market
HEALTH TOURISM Özlem Bay Yılmaz / obay@ekonomist.com.tr
He Set A Growth TargeIn The Far East Market
Faik Göksu, who founded the Turkishdoc company operating in health tourism, gained a serious momentum in China. Göksu, who then made two new investments, says, “We established a very large pharmaceutical factory in Turkey with our Chinese partner and a niche hospital in the TRNC with our Cypriot partner.”
For some, the entrepreneurial journey dates back to their school years. Faik Göksu, Chairman of Turkishdoc’s Board of Directors, is one of them. Göksu, who started his business life at the age of 19 when he was studying at Galatasaray High School, had the opportunity to go abroad through his school at that time. Based on this, he made organizations to send his friends to language schools. From the age of 20, he started to take students to language schools in France professionally through a company. By taking over this company he worked for in 2001, he expanded his business and undertook the overseas organizations of many French high schools in Turkey. Saying that he had a company that actively entered the language schools market in France in 2010, Göksu said, “In 2015, I saw the development of health tourism and entered this sector and established the Turkishdoc company. By making an agreement with one of the leading hospitals in Turkey, I started to bring a serious number of patients from many countries of the world. Today, Turkishdoc is a company that finds treatments that are missing in countries and works on those deficiencies. We entered the very difficult Chinese market and opened our fourth office in China at the end of 2019, and we planned to open a total of 11 new offices the following year. However, the pandemic conditions did not allow this. When the ongoing pandemic conditions are over, we will immediately start working on this issue again. In 2023, we plan to serve approximately 3,500 patients from different countries of the world.”
Stating that as a group, they target a turnover of 80 million dollars in 2024, Göksu said, “We aim to exceed the threshold of 100 million dollars in 2025. Until the end of 2025, we are planning to provide employment to 2,000 staff with a pharmaceutical factory we will establish in Turkey with the largest biopharmaceutical company of China, Yiling Pharmaceutical, and a hospital to be opened in Cyprus.”
Two New Investments
The company receives patients from almost every country in the world. Stating that they work with all European countries, especially the Balkans, as well as the Middle East, Central Asian and African countries, Göksu says that new investments are on their agenda. Mentioning that they have established a very large pharmaceutical factory in Turkey with their Chinese partners and a niche hospital with their Cypriot partners in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus focused only on certain issues, Göksu continued as follows: “In this hospital, our main topics will be stem cells, Car T Cell, which is in the R&D process, in vitro fertilization and plastic surgery. Our hospital, which was designed in a very luxurious concept, will have a total of 19,800 square meters of indoor space. It will include a 400 square meter R&D laboratory and a 1,200 square meter GMP laboratory. The total investment amount of the hospital is approximately 35 million Euros. Due to its luxury concept and multi-featured laboratories, it is a higher cost investment than normal.
Biotechnology Company
Saying that choosing Cyprus for the hospital investment is advantageous for their patients in many respects, Göksu added, “It has touristic capacity and ease of transportation. Patients coming from Schengen countries will be able to come through Southern Cyprus, and our guests who have difficulties in Schengen visa will easily come with a Turkey visa. The fact that our partners in this project are Cypriot doctors is another factor.”
Emphasizing that their company is an innovative group that attaches great importance to R&D, Göksu says that Cell-MG, an R&D company operating in the field of biotechnology, aims to provide hope for oncology patients and adds: “We also have important R&D studies on personal care products. Our project named ‘Livcell’ was created to develop high-tech products that people need in the global arena. Livcell has become a project chosen for the Technopark Istanbul Biocube program this year, out of hundreds of projects.”
“We Will Open The Export Door”
“Livcell products include the latest developments in personal care technology. We are about to apply for a patent with the invention feature of these products, in which stem cells and exosomes are used. Our products are near the end of the R&D phase. We have proven with analyses that these products, which are made with clean ingredients and using high technology, are solutions to many existing problems. We think that this project, which will be financed by our group with 100 percent equity capital, will also open an important export door for our country. We plan to sell our products, which we wish to offer to the market in Turkey as soon as possible, in our own stores and in contracted clinics. Again, our 3-year plans include presenting our products in our own clinics and stores as well as in clinics and stores of contracted institutions in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, Guanghzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, London, Paris, Milan, Rome, Berlin, Madrid and Barcelona.”
