Health services sector is seen as one of the fastest growing segments of the Polish services sector. This market also grows rapidly, both in Kielce and in the Świętokrzyski Region.
The sector includes:
- medical and therapeutic services, including alternative medicine
- rehabilitation services, preventive care (spa centres, resorts)
- health insurance services.
This sector often includes manufacturing, distribution and trade of medical products: equipment and pharmaceuticals and alternative medicine specifics.
Health services sector as a strength of Kielce and Świetokrzyskie Region
The reasons forsuch a rapid development of this sector in the city and the region should be traced to the presence of companies and institutions that are flywheels for this branch of economy, and also to the functioning of renowned public medical institutions and natural conditions: the presence of water with a high degree of sulphide mineralisation (up 3.1%), iodide-bromidebrine, clean air (thanks to the Holy Cross Mountains and numerous green spaces – in the city of Kielce there are sixnature reserves).
This is where the company Cefarm Kielce SASKA has its headquarter. It was founded in 1953 and after its conversion to a joint stock company in 1995, it has expanded to almost all Polish provinces. Kielce hosts the oldest R&D institute in the country, which deals with chemical industry, medical products and cosmetics - Inwex Ltd. (founded in 1987). On the basis of its technology a new company called Invex Remedies was created. The company produces dietary supplements and dermo-cosmetics that contain organic silica as well as gold, platinum and silver in monoatomic forms. Startups related to the health services sector are developing in Kielce, such as PODOPHARM Ltd, whose mission is to transfer innovative solutions for the needs of podiatry development in Poland and in the world.
Kielce was selected for the location of the outsourcing provider Medicover Group, the leader of private healthcare market in Central and Eastern Europe.
Kielce is the seat of highly specialized Świętokrzyskie Oncology Centre (Świętokrzyskie Centrum Onkologii) which is visited by patients from across Poland and participates actively in international projects such as cancer prevention. In the Świętokrzyskie Oncology Centre is the first in Poland commercial producer of radiopharmaceuticals and BIOBANK within the network of prevention of civilization diseases.
To meet the growing demand for qualified medical colleges, 19 medical specialties were opened in Kielce. The Jan Kochanowski University established the Department of Health. The university also runs a biotechnology in English.