Dozens of applications have been submitted for the setting up of new hospitals or takeover of existing ones in Cyprus as the competition watchdog expressed fears of health sector oligopoly.
This is what Philenews reported on Friday, adding that House Health Committee MPs heard that such an oligopoly could financially harm the wider health sector by strangling smaller local hospitals.
And by even determining the way the island’s General Health Scheme (Gesy) budget gets to be allocated.
Specifically, the representative of the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) said they had already looked into the Nicosia-based Apollonion hospital’s case and approved its takeover by an investment fund.
At the moment, the acquisition by the same investment fund of a second hospital in Nicosia, specifically the “Aretaiion”, is under review. And that’s when he warned of a possible oligopoly in the vital sector of health.
The Commission can impose commitments or reject an application which means that the whole takeover process cannot proceed, he also said.
He also pointed out that the ongoing investigation concerns both the number of hospitals that the said investment fund has acquired or intends to acquire. As well as the number of hospital beds in comparison with the total number of beds in Cyprus.
