Turkey has earned roughly $1.5 billion from health care tourism in 2018 and could increase this figure five times by 2023, the health minister said yesterday.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told Anadolu Agency Editors' Desk that people mostly from Azerbaijan, Iraq, Georgia, Germany and Russia come to Turkey for different treatments, including eye, oncology, radiotherapy and neurosurgery.

Turkey earned a total of $4.4 billion from health care tourism as some 1.8 million people visited the country on health purposes between 2013 and 2017, according to official data.

Last year, Turkey generated $1 billion through health care tourism - the figure was only $747.6 million in 2013. Revenues from health care tourism reached $590.1 million in the first half of the year.

The minister said that some surgeries were 90 percent cheaper in Turkey than other countries.

Turkey is one of the top health care tourism destinations in the world. Some 433,292 people came to Turkey last year for health care tourism. The figure pointed to a 62 percent increase from 267,461 visitors in 2013.