Elderly Norwegians head for Turkey and Spain for care

April 20, 2009

A new company, Scandinavian Life Center, owned by Alpar Invest, plans to send 20,000 Norwegians to Turkey within two years. The first 200 have already gone.

This is part of a trend for Norwegians in care homes to travel to warmer climates over winter, or when recovering from an operation.

Norwegian municipalities are now sending their elderly to Spain, Croatia, the Canaries and Turkey. Baerun even has its own 60-bed care home near Alicante. Oslo and Stavanger are also sending elderly people to Spain. Almost all the trips are paid for by Norwegian municipalities, who have worked out that it is no more expensive to send the elderly in search of southern sun than to keep them in Norway for the winter. Most fly out for 4 or 8 weeks, and are usually rehabilitating.

Scandinavian Life Centre has built a 286 bed care home for elderly care tourists in Istanbul, with a vast range of facilities, including a fitness centre, physical therapy unit and 24/7 medical care. Specialist services includes post medical care for orthopaedic surgery.

Source: Treatmentabroad.net