Kidney transplantation · Türkiye
Why do so many patients travel to Türkiye for a kidney transplant?
Because of one thing above all: living donation. Türkiye performs more living donor kidney transplants per person than any other country — which means a transplant can be planned rather than waited for. Here are the published numbers, the law that protects the donor, and what you should check before choosing anywhere.
The short answer
- More than 80% of kidney transplants in Türkiye come from living donors.
- In 2023 Türkiye had the highest living kidney donation rate in the world — over 35 donors per million people.
- With a living donor you do not wait on a list for a kidney that may never come.
- If your relative is not a match, Türkiye runs a national paired exchange programme — 2,067 exchange transplants between 2012 and 2023.
- Turkish law bans the sale of organs and allows living donation only from a spouse or close relatives — or with ethics committee approval.
The reason is living donation
In most countries a patient with kidney failure joins a waiting list and stays on dialysis, sometimes for years, hoping a deceased donor kidney becomes available. Deceased donation in Türkiye has remained low, so transplant teams built their programmes around living donors — usually a family member who donates one kidney and lives normally with the other.
The result is a scale of experience few countries have:
| What was measured | Figure |
|---|---|
| Share of kidney transplants from living donors | Over 80% |
| Living kidney donation rate, 2023 | Highest in the world — over 35 donors per million population |
| Living donor kidney transplant rate, Europe | 39 per million — the highest of any European country |
| Global ranking, living donor kidney transplants | Third, after India and the United States |
| Paired exchange transplants, 2012–2023 | 2,067 — 6.3% of all living donor kidney transplants |
For a patient who has a willing and suitable family donor, this changes the equation completely: the transplant becomes something you plan, not something you wait for.
In practice, patients travelling to Türkiye receive a kidney from a living donor who comes with them. If you do not have a potential donor in your family, tell us before anything else — it changes what is possible, and we would rather say so at the start than after you have travelled.
Your guide to kidney transplantation
These guides were written by our medical team and reviewed by a transplant physician. Start with whichever question is yours.
Can I have a transplant?
- Who cannot have a kidney transplant — the genuine barriers, and the ones that turn out not to be
- Kidney transplant with diabetes
- Hepatitis B or C and kidney transplant
- Age, weight and a second transplant
Finding a donor
- Blood group and tissue matching — what has to match, and what does not
- When blood types do not match
- Paired exchange: swapping donors between families
- What happens to the donor — the risks, honestly
Before and after
- Transplant before dialysis starts
- The timeline: tests, hospital stay, going home
- Eleven things people believe that are not true
How Turkish law protects donors
Where living donation is this common, protecting the donor has to be strict. In Türkiye it is written into law.
- Selling an organ is illegal. Organs may not be taken or sold for money or any other benefit (Law No. 2238, Article 3).
- The donor must be an adult able to make their own decision (Article 5), and consent must be given in writing, before witnesses, and confirmed by a doctor (Article 6).
Who can be your donor
| Donor | Rule |
|---|---|
| Your spouse | Married for at least 2 years — unless the illness was diagnosed after the marriage |
| Blood relatives up to the fourth degree | Parents, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, first cousins |
| Relatives by marriage up to the fourth degree | Allowed |
| Anyone else | Only with approval from a provincial ethics committee |
For a donor who is not a close relative, the ethics committee file must show where the relationship comes from — with photographs, letters or official documents — along with statements of income and whether the donor is in debt. The committee is looking for exactly the warning signs of a paid donor.
What if my relative's kidney is not a match?
This is common, and it is not the end of the road. Türkiye runs a national paired exchange programme: two families whose donors do not match their own patient swap donors. Matching is done only through the Ministry of Health's national software system — matching outside it is prohibited — and each donor must still be a spouse or relative of their own patient.
Between 2012 and 2023, 2,067 kidney transplants in Türkiye were carried out this way.
What to check before you choose a centre
The numbers above describe a country. They say nothing about the particular hospital you are considering. Check these yourself:
- Official authorisation. Hospitals treating international patients must hold an international health tourism authorisation certificate from the Turkish Ministry of Health. The Ministry publishes the list of authorised hospitals.
- Living donor volume. Ask how many living donor kidney transplants the team performs each year, and what its donor complication rate is.
- Results for your condition. Ask for outcomes in patients like you — not a single headline success rate.
- Complication insurance. Ask what happens — and who pays — if a complication needs extra treatment or a longer stay. Complication insurance is arranged by the patient; if you have a policy, check exactly what it covers.
- Follow-up at home. Ask who will look after you once you return to your own country, and how results will be shared with the transplant team.
- Anyone offering a donor for money is breaking the law. Walk away.
- If you use a medical travel company, check its authorisation too. Companies arranging treatment for international patients in Türkiye must hold an international health tourism facilitator authorisation. BookingHospital holds this authorisation — certificate number AK-0496 — registered with USHAŞ and a member of TÜRSAB. You can check it yourself on the official HealthTürkiye platform, where it is listed under its registered name, Moc Health Sağlık Turizm (Bookinhospital.com Danışmanlık ve Tic. Ltd. Şti.).
What BookingHospital does
BookingHospital is not a hospital. It is an authorised facilitator that works between you and the transplant team, from the first report to the follow-up after you go home:
- Reviewing your reports before you travel, and telling you honestly whether an evaluation is worthwhile — including when the answer is no.
- An interpreter, so that you and your donor understand every conversation with the medical team.
- Accommodation and transfers for the patient, the donor and accompanying family.
- Complication insurance, if you want it — we can arrange a policy for you before you travel.
- Follow-up after you return home — sharing your test results with the transplant team so your treatment can be adjusted from here.
Choosing on price alone.
Cost is a real consideration for most families, and it should be. But two centres with similar prices can have very different experience with living donors — and it is the donor's safety that depends on it. Compare the answers to the questions above first, then compare prices.
Medically reviewed by Prof. Dr. Murat Tuncer
Professor of Internal Medicine and Nephrology. He has worked in kidney transplantation since 1998 and is founding president of the Istanbul Organ Transplantation Association. His team handles the preparation for transplantation and the follow-up; the operation itself is performed by the transplant surgeons.
Have a family member willing to donate? Start here
Send the patient's latest reports and tell us who the potential donor is and how you are related. We will tell you honestly what is possible — including when the answer is no.
Medical and legal disclaimer. This article is general information based on published data and Turkish legislation as of September 2026. It is not medical or legal advice, and it cannot replace assessment by a transplant team. Rules on donor eligibility are applied by the transplant centre and, where required, the ethics committee.
References
- ERA Registry. Living and deceased donor kidney transplant rates across Europe — Figure of the month, 2025.
- Sarigol Ordin Y, Ayten Kankaya E, Celik B. Ten-year trends in kidney transplantation by donor type, age, dialysis and sex/gender inequality in Türkiye. Progress in Transplantation 2026.
- European Kidney Transplant Association (ESOT). Landscape of current practices and future perspectives in living donor kidney donation in Europe — proceedings of a pan-European symposium, 2025.
- Republic of Türkiye. Law No. 2238 on the Removal, Storage, Grafting and Transplantation of Organs and Tissues.
- Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Health. Organ Transplantation Services Regulation. Official Gazette No. 32038, 9 December 2022 (as amended).
- Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Health. Regulation on International Health Tourism and Tourist Health. Official Gazette No. 32882, 26 April 2025.