They will reach almost 11,000 employees by the end of the year, 2,000 more than in 2014, ZF has calculated based on the information supplied by the companies.
The plans to hire more people are a continuation of the strategy of the past few years, when the medical service providers developed and needed mainly doctors and nurses. The leaders of this market hired almost 3,000 people in 2014, according to the data centralized by ZF.
The medical service industry has been one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy in the past few years, with companies always posting growth, following significant investment in network expansion.
This shows in the rise in the number of employees of the top five operators, which doubled headcount in 2010-2014. Whereas in 2010, MedLife, Regina Maria, Medicover, Sanador and Gral had more than 4,300 employees, the number went up to almost 9,000 last year.
The 2010-2014 period was the busiest of the sector, when investments reached a record high and the market attracted investors unfamiliar with the medical business, whose first choice of investment until then had been real estate.
The 2010-2014 period was when the major players consolidated their positions to the detriment of the small clinics. It was the time when MedLife and Regina Maria welcomed private equity funds among their shareholders (the former did it in 2009 even) and MedLife positioned itself as the clear leader of the industry, following its extremely aggressive expansion policy.
Sanador opened the biggest private hospital in the country, which helped it quickly rise to top five. It is the only private medical service provider that focused on Bucharest, without plans to expand throughout the rest of the country.
The year 2015 began with the acquisition by MedLife of the Sama clinics in Craiova. MedLife has also opened a dental clinic, a hospital and a large clinic so far, all of which in Bucharest. It announced more plans, though, with all its projects estimated at EUR10 million.
Regina Maria opened a new clinic in Cluj (its second in the city) and announced it planned more openings in the big cities of the country, which can sustain EUR0.8 million to EUR1 million investments in medical service area.
Medicover opened a new clinic in Timisoara at the beginning of May, following a EUR0.6 million investment, as part of an investment plan for three new clinics each year.
Sanador is due to build a new clinic in the second half in an investment worth more than 9 million lei (over EUR2 million).
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)