Fixing botched plastic surgeries carried out in Turkey costs the NHS £94 million a year and takes much-needed hospital beds away from patients, a leading plastic surgeon has warned.
NHS consultant Dr Rajan Uppal has said that the government needs to act to deal with the worsening trend of people using Britain’s health service as an ‘insurance policy’ when they head to dodgy clinics overseas.
‘There are little old ladies sitting in a corridor while British patients who have had boob jobs overseas and made the choice to go there are filling beds,’ he told MailOnline. ‘It’s just not what the public thinks the NHS is for.’
He and fellow doctors at an NHS Trust in Surrey say they see at least see one Brit with complications every month, as thousands continue to jet off to clinics in Turkey – despite the increased risks posed by cut-price surgeries.
With some Turkish clinics offering cosmetic surgery packages for as little as £3,000, and often ‘aggressively’ marketing and upselling procedures, Dr Uppal said many are ‘preying on poor people who can’t afford expensive plastic surgery in the UK.’
Doctors at an NHS Trust in Surrey say they see at least see one Brit with complications every month
An audit by BAAPS last year found 324 Brits have needed medical treatment or corrective surgery after having gone under the knife overseas since 2018, though the real figure is expected to be far higher (stock image)
Explaining his workings regarding the true cost of this to the NHS, he said that if one patient a month requires treatment across each of the more than 900 hospitals in the UK, this would lead to an estimated annual cost of £94m and 58,000 days of lost NHS beds.
‘It’s a scandal really,’ he said. ‘If it wasn’t a burden on the NHS I wouldn’t mind, people are grown ups they can do what they want.’
He added that what he found particularly shocking was the apathy of some patients, who come into NHS hospitals expecting to be looked after, and believe they have saved money in the process.
‘Patients don’t care, they get through it and think ‘that’s fine, I’ve got away with it’.
‘They come out of surgery and say ‘I’m not bothered I got a deal, they feel they’ve saved £4,000’. It’s like buying a cheap car, if it’s broken down it doesn’t matter.
‘Patients are not stupid, they know it’s half the price, they know the surgeon might be cheaper, but they are willing to take the risk.
Dr Uppal said that one solution could be to invoice British patients for treatments, in the same way that people coming from abroad who use NHS services are, if they are coming in for help with cosmetic treatments they chose to have done.
Rhinoplasty expert and NHS consultant surgeon Dr Rajan Uppal
‘If you’re an overseas patient, if you fly in from India or Nigeria or wherever, and try to get healthcare, you’re either not allowed or you get an invoice.
‘In my hospital there is a department set up to recoup money from foreign nationals. So that office could do the same thing for patients who have had cosmetic surgery abroad, elective boob jobs and tummy tucks.
He said that as it stands, the NHS is the ‘underwriter, the insurance policy, for these patients.’
‘And actually, it shouldn’t be the insurance insurance they should pay for their own insurance.
‘That’s why it’s it costs £3,000 pounds instead of £6,000 in the UK. Because three grand is in the NHS is the cushion.’
Dr Uppal said he and fellow surgeons appealed to the previous government to tackle the issue, but received an unsatisfactory response.
‘Hopefully there will be change under the new government,’ he said.
‘Before no one seemed to care, but now the NHS is a big focus – the broken NHS – every bed matters and every pound matters.’
An audit by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) last year found 324 Brits have needed medical treatment or corrective surgery after having gone under the knife overseas since 2018, though the real figure is expected to be far higher.
This figure has surged 94 per cent in three years, the organisation claimed, despite doctors repeatedly warning of the dangers of getting surgery at often unregulated clinics overseas.
While plastic surgeons in the UK are generally required to undertake 10-15 years of training to become a specialist, some in Turkey may have trained for as little as three years.
Doctors have shared stories of Turkish surgeries leaving patients with life-threatening infections, implants bursting through the skin and blood clots, among other issues.
The NHS is obliged to treat acute medical situations, with people coming back from abroad often requiring urgent care.
But while the NHS can help people to survive injuries which are life-threatening, they are still often left with life-changing scars or other effects which they have to live with.
BAAPS president Dr Marc Pacifico said that patients’ choosing to go to Turkey ‘comes with significant consequences, not only for the individuals undergoing surgery overseas but also for the NHS, which often bears the burden of correcting complications upon patients’ return to the UK.’
BAAPS has put the average cost to the health service of treating a Brit with issues such as these at about £15,000, with the total bill since 2018 at about £4.8million (stock image)
Another possible way to tackle this and deter people from going in the first place, Dr Pacifico suggested, could be to make cosmetic tourism insurance compulsory, in order to either reimburse the NHS or get private care funded.
BAAPS has put the average cost to the health service of treating a Brit with issues such as these at about £15,000, with the total bill since 2018 at about £4.8million.
This represents the cost of resources like medication and dressings, as well as the time surgeons and other NHS staff must spend on such cases.
While the £15,000 figure is an average, surgeons have previously told this website more serious cases can cost upwards of £100,000 to the taxpayer.
Turkey was the largest source of botched ops, BAAPS figures suggested, though other big surgical destinations for Brits included the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
Almost 80 per cent of Brits who needed corrective ops in 2022 were treated originally in surgical tourism hubs like Istanbul and Ankara.
As many as 6,000 are said to be heading out to the country every year – many of whom are unaware of the risks.
All the known Brit fatalities in Turkey from surgery
At least 25 Brits have died as a result of medical tourism trips to Turkey since January 2019, according to the Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Here, MailOnline highlights some of the victims.
Leah Cambridge
Leah Cambridge, 29, suffered a blood clot during a £6,500 Brazilian butt lift surgery in Turkey.
Leah Cambridge, 29, died after having the ‘Brazilian butt lift’ procedure in Turkey
The mother-of-three, from Leeds, died just one day after travelling to an Elite Aftercare clinic in Turkey in August 2018.
The trainee beautician, described as being ‘paranoid about her body’, paid in cash for the procedure after being inspired by pictures on Instagram.
The procedure involved having fat extracted from the waist and injected into the buttocks.
But she suffered a fatal complication when fat was accidentally injected into a vein causing her to have three heart attacks on the operating table.
Ms Cambridge’s partner Scott Franks told Wakefield Coroner’s Court that the surgeon who carried out the procedure told him he had ‘injected the fat too far into the muscle and it entered her veins’.
Mr Franks said when he flew out to Turkey after his partner died, Dr Ali Uckan, the surgeon who treated Leah, had told him: ‘It’s a guessing game, you can’t see where you are going into.’
Ms Cambridge father, Craig, took his own life in 2021 with an inquest held in July last year hearing how he was never able to get past the loss of his daughter.
Diarra Akua Eunice Brown
Diarra Brown, 28, died after having liposuction in Turkey
Diarra Akua Eunice Brown, died aged 28, two days after getting liposuction at a clinic in the suburb of Bahcelievler in Istanbul, in October 2021.
She reportedly underwent the operation to have fat removed from her hips.
While the procedure initially appeared to be a success, Ms Brown ‘suddenly’ fell ill while having her dressings changed.
She died just hours later.
Social media posts from family and friends described her as a ‘beautiful soul’ and a ‘close friend’.
‘This must be a dream,’ one post said. ‘Still can’t come to terms with this yet.’
‘I miss you angel. I’m devastated you were taken away way before your time,’ said another.
Shannon Bowe
Shannon Bowe, 28 died after undergoing gastric band surgery in Turkey
Shannon Bowe, from Denny, near Falkirk, died while undergoing gastric band surgery in Turkey in April 2023.
The 28-year-old passed away during the procedure which involves placing a band around the stomach.
Where exactly Ms Bowe had the procedure in Turkey and the complication that led to her death have not been revealed.
In the aftermath of her death, Ms Bowe’s boyfriend Ross Stirling wrote on social media: ‘Sleep tight my angel, love you forever and always.’
Gastric band surgery involves a doctor placing a gastric band around the top of the stomach, creating a small pouch.
When the patient eats, this small pouch fills up more quickly than their stomach normally would, making them feel fuller with less food.
By encouraging them to eat less, the procedure can help patients lose weight.
Melissa Kerr
Melissa Kerr, 31, of Gorleston, Norfolk, died after having a BBL in Turkey
Melissa Kerr, 31, died while undergoing a Brazilian butt lift in Turkey in 2019, just before her wedding.
Ms Kerr traveled to Istanbul’s Medicana Haznedar Hospital in November that year for gluteal augmentation, which can cost up to £3,150.
The psychological wellbeing practitioner, from Gorleston, Norfolk, died from a blocked artery in her lung as a result of undergoing the surgery.
Her twin sister Natasha who set up a justgiving.com page after her death described her a ‘a pure and beautiful soul inside and out’.
She said: ‘Words cannot describe the pain and heartbreak we are going through, life without her will never be the same again.
‘We miss her deeply and nothing will fill the emptiness we are left with.’
Melissa’s partner Skye Birch said: ‘I will continue to love you with all my heart until my last breath.’
Ms Kerr also worked as a volunteer helping domestic violence victims and supporting people through bereavement.
Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose
Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose, 38, died after liposuction in Turkey
Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose, a 38-year-old social worker, from Dartford, Kent, died in August 2020 after undergoing liposuction surgery in Turkey.
The mother-of-three bought an overseas package deal with Mono Cosmetic Surgery after becoming fed-up with people asking her if she was pregnant, according to her husband.
A post-mortem examination found that Mrs Bamgbose suffered perforations to her bowel during the surgery, with the cause of death given as peritonitis with multiple organ failure.
Peritonitis is an infection of the peritoneum, the inner lining of the tummy which covers vital internal organs like the kidneys, liver and bowel.
Her husband Moyosore Olowo told an inquest he was unaware his wife had traveled abroad for cosmetic surgery, instead believing she had simply gone on a holiday with her friends.
It was not until Mrs Bamgbose called her husband to say she was suffering from stomach pains following the procedure that he found out what had happened.
Mr Olowo said his wife had visited a private medical practice in the UK for surgery but added that the cost had been too high for her to have the treatment in Britain.
Carol Keenan
Carol Keenan, 54, died after having a BBL and tummy tuck in Turkey
Carol Keenan, 54, died six days after undergoing a combined Brazilian butt lift and tummy tuck in Turkey.
The grandmother, of Glenrothes, Fife, paid £7,000 for the procedures at a private hospital in Istanbul in 2022 after becoming anxious about the way her body looked.
Ms Keenan also accepted the offer of free abdominal muscle repair surgery shortly before she was taken into the operating theatre.
But she died before she was due to have a final check up and fly home.
Speaking to MailOnline in April, her family said they are still waiting for the results of her autopsy 11 months on from her death.
Her daughter Leonie Keenan, 32, said: ‘My mother was a fit and healthy individual. She was a very petite size 10 and she kept in shape by walking everywhere and going swimming.
‘She was a very active grandmother who loved bouncing on the trampoline with the kids-but she was not happy with her body even though everyone told her she looked great.
‘She set her heart on having surgery after seeing stories about other people and celebrities having procedures. I don’t know if it was like a mid-life crisis.’
