Medicover to open three more clinics

Medicover SRL, the Romanian-based branch of the Swedish medical services group bearing the same name, is planning to open three more clinics this year. One of these clinics will operate in Bucharest and the other two will be located in other cities, said Gabriel Ionescu, the company’s general manager.

“The clinics will be dedicated in the second half this year, with total investments revolving around 1.5 million euros,” said the company’s official, who would not disclose the locations of the two clinics to be opened outside Bucharest. The company already owns five clinics in Romania (two in Bucharest and another three in Focsani, Cluj and Constanta respectively).

According to Ionescu, Medicover expects the number of clients to grow from 17,000 to 22,000-23,000 this year. “We anticipate the company’s turnover will climb 44% this year, as compared to 2002, reaching five million euros,” the general manager also said. The unit that provides medical assistance based on membership cards last year derived revenues worth 3.5 million euros, up 22% from 2002.

Beside Medicover SRL, the group also holds in Romania a network of five medical labs, managed by Medicover Rombel company. Activities of the two units were split last autumn, in the wake of a decision issued at an international level.

In 2003, Medicover group logged revenues worth 7.7 million euros in Romania, following the 22% increase posted by the medical assistance unit and the 6% rise reported by the lab operations unit. Romanian operations account for more than 80% of the total revenues recorded by the lab unit.

Medicover CEO Frederik Ragmark stated that, over the last four years, the group had made significant investments in technological upgrades, with Romanian-based firm TotalSoft selected as the company’s main partner in this project.
miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro