I think you're right, she may have gone to Turkey because of the long waiting lists here in the UK. Our hospitals were overwhelmed at the height of the pandemic which had a knock on effect to our present waiting lists.
I waited 2 months to get an ankle x Ray and ultrasound on the NHS recently. To be fair I wasn't in pain at all, and it wasn't an emergency in any way. Normally you would be seen within a week though. Most of the clinically trained staff were called in to Covid wards during the pandemic, and retired NHS staff like myself were contacted to cover their normal duties. You could get a fast tracked return to work assessment, (I know as I was offered one) . I didn't take it up as I was 70, and also in one of the clinically vulnerable groups. As it happens I caught Covid( not hospitalised thank goodness) and took a while to recover. The staff are now back in their normal settings , but have a tremendous backlog of routine, non urgent, elective surgery cases to catch up on, hence the long wait times. It will take a few years to get back to normal as many peoples' conditions have become more serious as a result unfortunately.
I'm not sure Tatiana had a gall bladder operation. That would be treated as an emergency, if there was any pain at all, not an elective operation, and you would still be top priority here in the UK. You would be in severe pain, and would be operated on immediately. She may have preferred to go to a private clinic to recover perhaps and Turkish clinics are cheaper. I can't imagine flying to Istanbul and getting a taxi to the hospital with gall bladder pain though. She would be doubled up in agony. It's one of the most painful conditions you can experience. I suspect myself she went for cosmetic surgery, as its common practice to go abroad for this to countries where its considerably cheaper than the UK. I think the gall bladder is an excuse. Wonder if Selmar will pick up the bill? I'm sure he's being conned.