First Hospital Privatisation Gets Under Way

Every member of the municipal assembly in the Southeast Hungarian town approved the latest plan to invite a tender for the sale of Semmelweis Hospital recently.

Previous plans to sell the hospital caused political turmoil in 1999. This time, assembly members decided to keep the price as low as HUF 50 million, while requesting the winner to spend HUF 1.5 billion on development and modernisation of the hospital in three years.

The successful winner will have to declare possession of assets worth at least HUF 1.7 billion and is expected to have posted at least HUF 7 billion in revenues from public health services last year.

Three years ago laboratory diagnostics Prodia Rt., mammography specialist Mamma Clinics Rt. and diagnostics company Nediworld Plus Kft. set up a joint-venture called Halas-Med Kht. for purchasing the hospital. Former health minister István Mikola blocked the privatisation plan.


Last year, the local municipality set up Semmelweiss Hospital Kht. a corporate entity to operate the hospital. “Financial investors aim to take profit out of the business as soon as possible, while workers in the health sector know well that hardly any profit can be expected in the first five years,” said Attila Füzes, economic director of Semmelweiss Hospital Kht.

The hospital is modern compared to its age. For example in 1998, the municipality and the hospital established Halas-Surgery Kft, which built a surgery unit from bank loans in a few months.

Now the company operates the surgery, and the hospital receives a bill from it based on the hours the operating facility is in use. One bidder has applied to the municipality to date, namely Hospinvest Health Investment Kft., which was founded in 2000 by the same companies that own Halas-Med Kht. Hospinvest Managing Director Jenõ Halas said the company cannot apply for the Kiskunhalas hospital on its own, because its revenues last year did not reach the required HUF 7 billion level.

Hospinvest is now looking to involve further contenders in order to form a consortium with them and apply for the tender together. Hospinvest has been contracted recently to modernise another town hospital, in Körmend, Northwest Hungary.

Source: HVG



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