The
second place belongs to Galenika's long-awaited partner. Following the unsuccessful sale to the consortium Frontier-Petrovax in early 2017, the state placed a
new invitation for the privatization of the pharmaceutical company on September 1, this time pertaining to a “cleaned” Galenika, as the decision to convert the company's debt into the ownership capital of the state had been reached previously. Aelius, a company related to EMS S/A Brazil, was the only one of the two companies that submitted offers to meet all the requirements. By
the agreement that was signed, the company obliged to pay, in addition to the amount of EUR 16 million, which is the sales and purchase price, an additional amount of EUR 25 million to settle debts towards banks. They also obliged to pay EUR 200 per year of service to employees who had opted for the voluntary social program.
The
third spot leads us to the private sector. The Bel Medic polyclinic from Belgrade continued to expand its capacities in 2017, and our readers found the information about the
new medical center in Slavija and the opening of a healthcare institution in central Kosovo, in Gracanica, to be the most interesting.
The first foreign investment in healthcare in Serbia placed
fourth. Although it welcomed its first patients in late 2016,
the opening of the neurology hospital Affidea, worth EUR 4 million, was officially marked in Belgrade in February 2017, and the Dutch used the opportunity to announce new investments, that is, the opening of diagnostics centers in another three cities in Serbia – Novi Sad, Nis and Kragujevac.
The
fifth spot belongs to bone marrow transplant centers in Serbia. Stem cell transplant procedures have been performed for twenty years now at the Mother and Child Health Care Institute (on children) and the Military-Medical Academy (on adults), and another such center, the third one in Serbia,
opened last year at the Clinical Center of Belgrade. RSD 90 million was invested in it. Around 40 bone marrow transplant procedures on patients suffering from malignant and autoimmune diseases are performed in Serbia a year, and the number is expected to increase considerably with the expansion of the capacities and the creation of better conditions.
Regarding stem cells, we mustn't forget that Serbia still doesn't have a public bank, and this issue placed
sixth on our list. Although the foundation stone for the Stem Cell Bank at the Mother and Child Health Care Institute Dr Vukan Cupic was laid down back in 2012, the building in the Institute's yard in New Belgrade wasn't completed in 2017 either.
Although the works are still in progress, the funds are insufficient, as the amount of RSD 15 million set aside from the budget for the purpose each year is not enough to have the bank completed. For this reason, initiatives for having a million euros, the amount needed to complete the project, secured through extraordinary financing, donations or credits, were announced in 2017 as well. Until the first public stem cell bank is completed, cord blood stem cells may be kept at
one of the foreign facilities registered in Serbia for an average price of around EUR 2,000 for a period of 20 years.
The
seventh spot takes us to the pharmaceutical sector. Once again,
Hemofarm drew attention in 2017 through new acquisitions – this time, by taking over the Belgrade-based company Velexfarm. Let us remind that Hemofarm took over Ivancic i Sinovi in August 2016. It remains to be seen if the Vrsac-based company surprises us in 2018 as well.