Overview
As a result of limited and/or highly specialized domestic production, Slovenia’s medical devices market is dependent on imports from Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and the United States. The medical devices market has grown over the past decade, but the real potential lies ahead, as much of the medical equipment in Slovenia’s public hospitals is outdated and expensive to maintain. With a new government that campaigned on improving healthcare delivery in power, Slovenia is currently considering how to restructure the health care sector, optimize its health care budget, and consolidate several public health agencies. The government has increased investments in specialized hospitals in recent years, including the Oncology Institute and the Pediatric Clinic, and there will likely be increased demand for innovative instruments and equipment in the years ahead.
U.S. credit rating agency Fitch estimated that the size of Slovenia’s medical devices market was USD 623.3 million in 2021. Slovenia’s medical device expenditure is the highest per capita in Central and Eastern Europe, and Fitch predicts a record double-digit growth until 2026.
The Ministry of Health is the main player in Slovenia’s medical equipment market. The Ministry develops health care policies, proposes the government’s health care budget and the sector’s investment program, and monitors the work of state-owned hospitals and health care institutions. Due in part to fiscal problems with the national health account, the ministry was forced in recent years to take over purchasing programs and centralize hospital tenders, resulting in increased public procurement transparency.
Some distributors of U.S.-made medical equipment have raised concerns over public procurement tender processes by hospitals that appear to favor some companies over others. In some cases, procurement tenders appear to be written in such a way as to favor one company’s products over another’s, or specifications are revised during the bid preparation phase to eliminate some companies from the tender.
Most dental services are provided by private practices.
The Slovenian health care market is price-sensitive. Institutions are prepared, however, to pay high prices for state-of-the-art equipment.
Slovenia placed investment in healthcare at the center of its COVID-19 recovery plan, with a large share of funding coming from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. In June 2021, the Slovenian government passed legislation that allocates EUR 1.9 billion for the modernization and optimization of Slovenia’s healthcare system for the 2021-2031 period.
Leading Sub-Sectors
- Diagnostic equipment
- Scanners, CTI devices, and magnetic resonance devices
- Laboratory equipment
Opportunities
The best opportunities in Slovenia’s health care sector are for producers and distributors of diagnostic and imaging equipment, as hospitals and clinics are upgrading aging technology. Dental equipment, digital imaging and medical records management software also represent promising opportunities.
Resources
Ministry of Health, Štefanova 5, SI- 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
E-mail: gp.mz@gov.si
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, Dimiceva 13, 1504 Ljubljana, Slovenia
E-mail: info@gzs.si
U.S. Commercial Service
Mirjana Rabič, Economic Commercial Specialist
Phone: +386 1 200 5500
Fax: +386 1 200 5555