2017 RETROSPECTIVE – Investments in HEALTH CARE which have caused the greatest interest among eKapija users

The investment team of eKapija has performed the analysis and formed the list of investments and investment ideas which caused the greatest interest among our users in 2017. The results are very interesting, some of them expected, though there are lots of surprises as well, which is why we've decided to share the information with you.

We present the most interesting projects in the HEALTH CARE category.

The state optimistically announced in early 2017 that investments in healthcare in 2017 would exceed those made in the previous 70 years. The construction of new facilities of clinical centers and the reconstruction of clinics and hospitals were once again bombastically announced, but only a few of these announced investments were realized. We are still waiting for the rest.

The effects of the measures taken in the field of investments in new and existing facilities, equipment and workforce will be felt in a few years, according to Minister of Health Zlatibor Loncar, who is convinced that “our healthcare system will be the best one in the region in two to three years”. Again, we are waiting.

A step forward was made in electronic operations in 2017, with the information on initiatives that simplify access to healthcare for patients being among those that our readers found the most interesting, as expected. The private sector was also very active in 2017, and there were also numerous takeovers and investments in the pharmaceutical industry. In the domain of science, more specifically, stem cells, we are still waiting for the long since started projects to be realized. Local health centers also feature prominently on our list.

Before we see the list of this year's investments in healthcare that you found to be the most interesting, we should mention the successes of Serbian medical doctors, who stand shoulder to shoulder with world experts in terms of knowledge and skill. In 2017, Serbia saw a uterus transplant, a severed hand reattachment, a brain tumor operation on an awake patient, and we also read the news of Serbian experts being able to assemble an ear from rib material... There were other positive news as well – by a decision of Eurotransplant, Serbia was unanimously welcomed to this European organ exchange network, and the first innovative drugs reached patients after a nearly five-year break. If we manage to keep the medical workers, who are leaving the country in droves at the moment, and if the announced investments in the healthcare infrastructure are realized and become a usual practice rather than isolated cases, we can hope that the healthcare system of Serbia will gain enough strength to at least be able to provide adequate service to the citizens, if not exactly to become the leader in the region.

The reconstruction of clinical centers, which takes the top spot on this year's list, plays a great role in this. Although we've been hearing about the realization of these projects for year, only the Clinical Center of Nis opened in late 2017. However, even though the first surgical procedures were also performed, several days later, media reported that the facility did not have an exploitation permit, functioning in the regime of “test operations” instead. It is not known when the exploitation permit is to be issued, but the final deadline for this is August 2.

On the other hand, the reconstruction of the remaining three clinical centers – in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Kragujevac, announced for 2017, hasn't even begun. Although a tender for the contractor for the Clinical Center of Serbia was opened, that's as far as it went. The results of this procedure were not revealed and the works projected for April in Novi Sad and for September in Kragujevac didn't advance further than the announcement. The state has not commented on the reasons.

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.

The reconstruction of the Health Center in Labudovo Brdo, which will enable the provision of healthcare services to 50,000 citizens of this urban neighborhood of Belgrade, placed eighth, whereas the final two spots within the top 10 belong to the automation of processes within the healthcare system in Serbia.

The ninth spot, then, belongs to the automatic extension of health insurance cards, which should save employers around 500,000 work hours, that is, around EUR 1.5 million a year. As explained, employers no longer have to have health insurance cards of their employees extended themselves, as the state performs this service automatically, which has been enabled through the new information system of the National Health Insurance Fund.

Electronic prescriptions have been available since last year, enabling citizens of Belgrade primarily, and then the users of another 42 healthcare institutions in Serbia as well, to only need to go to get prescriptions from their doctor once or twice a year. By the end of the current year, according to the Ministry's announcements, electronic prescriptions should be available to all citizens of Serbia, which proved to be interesting enough to earn the 10th spot on our list.

The 11th spot belongs to yet more investments in the reconstruction and construction of new healthcare institutions in Serbia. The new building of the Emergency Service in Novi Sad is finally getting its final shape – the works are at the final stage, and the latest announcements say that the facility should open in March. While waiting for the Clinical Center to be reconstructed, Kragujevac should also get a General Hospital in 2018, where patients from the city's territory are to be treated exclusively. This project placed 12th.

Residents of Borca are also waiting for better healthcare. The promise by those in charge that the health center in the Belgrade neighborhood will be completed by 2017, however, remains unfulfilled. The announcements that followed said that the construction of this healthcare institution would begin in March 2018 at the earliest, whereas the latest information from the city administration places the date in the second half of 2018. This story placed 13th.

Take a look at the complete list on investments in the HEALTH CARE category and compare it with your own thoughts, estimates and projections.

Also, have you seen our list of the projects that have caused the greatest interest in the REAL ESTATE (residential and office space), AGRICULTURE AND FOOD INDUSTRY and INDUSTRY categories?