Big three will be the death of the day hospital sector, industry body warns
The Day Hospital Association has urged the competition authorities to prohibit JSE-listed Mediclinic’s planned acquisition of the Intercare group, saying it would lessen competition. The state of competition in the private hospital industry is currently under the spotlight, with the Competition Commission’s health market inquiry describing the sector as highly concentrated in its interim report published in July. The inquiry found 90% of SA’s private hospital beds were held by Mediclinic and its two biggest rivals, Netcare and Life Healthcare. Mediclinic announced in August 2017 that it planned to acquire a controlling stake in Intercare, which manages multidisciplinary primary care medical centres, including four day hospitals. "Unfortunately the big three are entering the (day hospital) market. The last thing we would like to see is for them to have a monopoly," said DHA chairman Bert von Wielligh, who is also MD of day hospital group Cure Day Clinics. He was talking at a stakehol...
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