Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – The problem of Polish hospitals consists not in the lack of finances but in bad management. Private business has proved it’s true.
The government is going to inject further millions of zlotys into unprofitable state-owned hospitals. It should see to that the money paid by taxpayers for social insurance are used well instead. Public hospitals where the costs of curing patients are covered from the National Health Fund (NFZ), the state fund disposing of the money from health insurance, are more and more often run by private companies.
They don’t only make money but invest as well. EMC Instytut Medyczny is a good example. When the company had its IPO, it ran only two hospitals, today it has five of them. 80 percent of its sales come from NFZ. Since its IPO in the middle of 2005, the value of its stock has doubled. Four hospitals acquired from local authorities were in a very bad state.
“It takes long for local authorities to sell a hospital. They do it when there are no other solutions”, Piotr Gerber, EMC CEO said.
Public hospitals suffer from the same disease as all other state-owned companies: red tape and lack of common sense. In one of the hospitals EMC acquired, there were no lifts but 14 men employed to carry the patients. The daily cost of meals amounted to PLN 0.95 (EUR 0.24) while there were eight cooks.
EMC is running negotiations with over ten local authorities. It wants to buy at least two other hospitals this year. It has funds raised in the last issue. Out of PLN 5.5m raised it is going to spend PLN 2m. If necessary, a new issue will be conducted.
There are over 70 private hospitals in Poland with over 2,000 beds and 3,500 employees. Their sales amount to PLN 336.17m, including PLN 176.96m from NFZ.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.258)