SPAS IN SOUTH SERBIA TO BE PRIVATIZED BY THE END OF THE YEAR

27. March 2018.

Presevo, Bujanovac, Medvedja - All special hospitals in the Serbian spas are going to be privatized by the end of the year, said the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia.

Bujanovac Spa is among the first on the list, primarily because of its poor financial situation and the obsolete equipment and infrastructure. The process of privatization will not bypass Vranje Spa, either, in whose specialized hospital the situation is much better in terms of medical equipment and the necessary infrastructure.

The special hospital in Vranje Spa has 120 beds and employs 60 people, while the special hospital in Bujanovac Spa, with 200 beds and 120 employees, is in a considerably less favorable position.

The special hospital in Vranje Spa is in a much better situation in terms of occupancy, too, because the average percentage of occupancy is 90 guests on a daily basis, while the number of visitors in Bujanovac Spa, on average, is not more than 40, which is around 20 percent of the spa’s occupancy and which generates operating losses.

Also, the situation in Vranje Spa is much more favorable when it comes to investments, which amount to 10 million dinars per year, with the exception of last year, when there were no investments at all due to the financial situation that was burdened by party employments.

There have been no investments in the modernization of medical equipment, nor in the renewal of its capacity, of the special hospital in Bujanovac Spa for decades, which was caused by over-employment, while the number of workers in the period from 1991 to 2003 was over 200 people.

Source: Vranje News and Coordination Body