As the summer holidays are underway and many Brits are heading for beautiful Turkish hotspots, Europ Assistance is warning tourists to be vigilant when seeking medical advice in the country. One of the UK’s leading travel insurance and assistance providers has already seen numerous instances of unnecessary medical treatments for minor problems taking place in Turkey this summer, costing unsuspecting tourists and travel insurance companies thousands of pounds.

Instances experienced by Europ Assistance customers so far this year include:

  * Tourists simply wanting over the counter medication finding themselves pressurised into being taken to a clinic by car

  * Customers feeling pressurised by Doctors into signing for more treatment than they actually received

  * Brits being put on drips when they were only experiencing minor problems

Europ Assistance is advising its customers, wherever possible, to call the company’s 24 hour medical assistance centre prior to receiving treatment to get advice on the recommended clinics to visit in their resorts. Alternatively, a list of approved global medical clinics can be found on Europ Assistance’s website www.europ-assistance.co.uk.

Europ Assistance is urging customers unable to make contact prior to treatment to get in touch with their insurance provider at the first possible opportunity. Insurers, such as Europ Assistance, can then liaise with Turkish medical staff, deal with costs, treatment, send a local interpreter to aid the situation or move the customer to a more appropriate medical clinic if necessary.

“We are shocked by the number of instances of unnecessary medical treatment, overcharging and pressure on customers occurring in some Turkish clinics this summer,” says Paul Everett, Sales and Marketing Director for Europ Assistance.

“The Turkish medical community are, in the most part, true professionals and we would never want to discourage travellers from visiting the country. However, it is important that tourists receive the correct and appropriate medical treatment for their ailment, therefore we wanted to make the public aware of this potential problem and prevent any further tourists being caught out.”

Europ Assistance worldwide covers over 300 million customers and has representation in over 200 countries around the world.