Healthcare industry upgrades
The Swiss healthcare industry is growing. Public and private hospitals and clinics are investing heavily in new buildings and in-house technical facilities. This development is leading to a real boom for gas and plant construction companies.
The Swiss industrial gas supplier Messer Schweiz AG specialises in plant engineering and has more than doubled its sales in this area within the last two years. "Medical gas supply is vital for survival in hospitals," says Dr. Hans-Michael Kellner, Managing Director of Messer Schweiz AG.
"Equipment failures can cost lives, which is why hospitals, clinics and practices are increasingly investing in new equipment." Whether it's oxygen, medical compressed air, nitrous oxide, CO2 for operating rooms, vacuum for suction, supply expansion or modernization of outdated non-compliant piping systems; the number of individual and overall projects is constantly increasing.
"Today, we are one of only a few companies in Switzerland to hold the necessary CE certification in accordance with ISO13485 and are therefore regarded as experts in medical plant engineering," says Kellner, CEO Messer Schweiz AG.
Projects more than doubled
The healthcare sector is becoming an increasingly important branch of the Swiss economy. In 2014, employment in the healthcare sector reached around 240,000 full-time employees. The share of healthcare employees in total employment, measured in full-time equivalents, increased from 4.9% in 1992 to 6.8% in 2014.
Healthcare's share of total value added increased from 3.7% (1997) to 5.0% (2012). This development leads to the fact that medical gas suppliers, who also build the facilities for the operation of medical equipment, more than doubled the number of projects and the outlook for 2016 makes the companies confident.
