Polish and Italian consortium: $500 million hospital network

By the beginning of February a consortium of Polish and Italian companies, created by Warsaw company Sava Investment Group (SIG), will begin constructing a network of 15 private hospitals in Poland’s biggest cities at a total cost of $500 million. The average construction cost per bed in the outlets will amount to $90,000, which is $30,000 less than in Western countries. “Information technology will be provided by [GSM operator] PTC Era GSM and Prokom, which is tied with Sava through one if its subsidiaries,” said SIG president Andrzej Malinowski. He also added that UniCredito Italiano had joined the consortium and would take care of the financial part of the project, but would also seek other investors. The idea of creating the hospital network is based on the as yet non-existing system of private health insurance. According to president Malinowski, the participation of these partners guarantees profitability, even if private patient funds are not available soon. (Puls Biznesu, pp.1, 9) M.M.