Medicana and two other Turkish companies are interested in investing on the Romanian private medical services market. "At least three large groups in Turkey are considering the construction of hospitals in Romania, last year a hospital being opened and managed by the Turks", said Ion Pascu, the Romanian ambassador to Ankara, referring to the West Eye Hospital in Bucharest. He added that an interested company is Medicana group, which is in discussions with a partner in Bucharest in order to identify a location to build a hospital.

The Ambassador also mentioned two other companies from Turkey, without disclosing their names and warned that such projects could be prevented by the fact that neither Romania or Turkeys recognizes the medical degrees issues by the other country.

The West Eye Clinic was founded in early 2008 by Dr. Mehmet Soyler. In early 2010, the clinic, the first that invested in this field in Romania, sold a 80 percent stake to the company Batigoz Ltd Sti in Turkey. Following two years of investments, the West Eye Hospital was opened Bucharest, on some 1,400 sqm.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com