The company set out to double the number of beds in the oncology hospital it operates to 120 and invest in a new imaging machine and two labs.
“We are thinking of adding two more operating rooms, but our next project will be the second accelerator, which will do radiation therapy targeting smaller tumors, in which we will invest about EUR3 million,” Robert Serban said.
Gral has been operating an oncology hospital since 2013, following a more than 30 million lei (almost EUR7 million) investment. The hospital has 60 beds and average take-up was 85% in 2014. The capacity will double to 120 beds this year.
Gral is the largest private medical service operator in Romania that chose to go with niches unlike its bigger competitors that chose to provide general medicine services. Gral’s three main lines of business are oncology, lab tests (imaging included) and dialysis.
“When we started out in 2007, there were companies that had conquered the general service market so there was only one decision we could make to catch up without wasting time and resources: go with niches. This does not mean we do not provide general services, but they are merely support for the oncology business,” Robert Serban said.
Gral’s revenue stood at RON101.2 million in 2014, an increase of 23% year-on-year, better than the initial 20% estimate. The group’s clinics outside Bucharest posted 41% growth; however, the business in Bucharest generates 80% of the revenue.
Gral budgeted growth of 20% in revenue on the back of the new services it added. Gral currently has 550 full-time employees, in addition to 1,500 who work there part time. Robert Serban says he will need another 100 full-time employees this year.
Gral expects this to be a year of consolidation on the medical service market, but some of the moves that might happen will not affect it, because they will not involve direct competitors.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)