Every year, HBI London is an important event for healthcare players from across Europe. More than the question of research funding, we have been concerned by the economic debates since the COVID_19 crisis. This crisis did little to change the landscape, as the resilience of Europe’s healthcare systems, based on the solvability of Member States, enabled a balanced provision of care between sectors to be maintained. On the other hand, inflation and measures to restrict access to credit as a result of the increase in key interest rates by the ECB and national central banks will clearly have an impact.
The low level of activity in the M&A (Merge and Acquisition) sector can be explained by the decline in ROIC (Return On Invest Capital) due to the same rise in interest rates. Paradoxically, companies with self-financing capacity will be less affected than outside investors raising debt to invest: “Organic growth more attractive than M&A”. This differential may have a major impact on the way international investors interpret the markets. In the short term, the outlook is stable and all private players will probably continue to be affected by the economic context. In addition, government debt will be restructured, but it is still possible that the burden will call into question certain budgetary balances, and the healthcare sector will not be spared by the downward pressure on specific allocations. This applies equally to the main economic sectors such as big pharma, biology, medical devices and the hospital sector, which we represent.
Dr Paul Garassus, UEHP President, Oleksii Laremenko, Head of Health Recovery, Ministry of Health Ukraine
HBI was also an opportunity to make contact with the representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, who presented us with his investment plan to rebuild the healthcare services destroyed by the ongoing conflict. Unfortunately, it is still too early to make a direct contribution, but the presence of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which will be able to contribute to these major efforts to help the Ukrainian people affected by the conflict, strengthens our resolve to be at the service of our hospital colleagues, whom we also met on this occasion, in order to contribute to the reconstruction that everyone is hoping for and that Ukraine is expecting without delay. A link was established with Oleksii Laremenko, Head of Health Recovery, Ministry of Health Ukraine to build back better with the support of the European Union of Private Hospitals (UEHP).
