The medical equipment market could go beyond 200m euros around 2012, up 50% from the 139m-euro level estimated for 2009. Growth will be supported both by the private sector that has gained momentum in recent years, and by the public one, in the context where the decentralisation due to start next year will allow for the organisation of tenders for hospital equipment.
On January 1, 2010, hospitals will move from the Health Ministry under the management of local authorities, meaning each of them will have the autonomy to organise its own tenders to acquire equipment.
For medical equipment firms, this is the start of a battle with a stake of tens or even hundreds of million euros.
Firms fighting on the market of equipment for big hospitals are GE Healthcare (40% of the market), Siemens (40%) and Philips (the rest), according to ZF data.
A new wave of acquisitions will boost the major foreign firms' interest in the Romanian market, sheltered from the crisis fallout.
"The factors that have influenced the market are the positive performance of the private market and the rising financing by the Health Ministry in the 2007-2008 period in the public sector," said Bogdan Manea, CEO with Techno Electro Medical Company.
Other firms' representatives are more downbeat about the development of the medical equipment market.
Having entered the market in the early '90s, medical equipment firms have grown on the back of acquisitions by public hospitals, but lately, owing to the high number of private medical centres, the interest has started shifting to the private sector as well.
The biggest firm on this market is GE Healthcare, which, according to the latest available data, in 2008 estimated 45-50m-euro turnover.
Apart from this market, there is the niche of lab reactive agents and lab equipment, including companies such as Hoffmann la Roche, Top Diagonistic or Diamedix. The value of this market was put at 70m euros by the European Diagnostic Manufacturers Association in 2007. Other than these players, there are a lot of medium and small firms, but with a much more regional activity. This niche stands at 229m euros in Poland, 129m euros in the Czech Republic and 58m euros in Hungary.
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