Espicom's in-depth medical device market reports are ideal for executives wanting to understand the key drivers in medical markets and have access to a wealth of statistical data. Each report opens with an outlook section that provides analysis of the market, 5-year market forecasts, national data projections, market outlook and key developments such as regulation, health facilities and government policy. The report also provides extensive background information, population trends, health status, health expenditure, organisation & administration, hospital services, medical personnel, healthcare development, market access information, trade data and essential industry contacts. Included with the report are 3 free quarterly updated outlook reports, enabling you to keep up to date with market developments for a year. Slovakia's prospects have improved remarkably since 1999. A reform-minded government secured EU membership in May 2004 and reform of the healthcare sector is being undertaken, with bed numbers falling annually. The 1999 election of a reformist government, re-elected in 2002, prevented the country falling into expected autocratic isolation, as seen in neighbouring Belarus. The private sector is also becoming more significant, although under the law on healthcare providers, revised in 2005, private companies may not obtain a majority stake in large hospitals. Competition in the private sector may be limited by the new government which was elected in June 2006 however; Prime Minister Fico is in favour of creating a single health insurer and is against private companies profiting from health insurance contributions.

While Slovakia remains less wealthy than its former partner, the Czech Republic, it is now very much a Western-facing, if small, market. Slovak hospitals remain largely unreconstructed; the old pattern of large hospitals with an overcapacity of beds and medical specialists, combined with increasingly obsolete equipment and a lack of primary care, still dominates, despite recent reductions in bed numbers. Great demand for new medical equipment exists, curtailed only by the country's ability to pay for imported goods. There is a tradition of medical device manufacturing in Slovakia, although to an extent, it relies on Eastern Europe for its markets and is increasingly unable to compete with Western imports.

The Slovak medical equipment market is extremely competitive. The European Union holds over half of the market for imported products. Slovakia has harmonised its device legislation with that of the EU, driven by EU membership. Renewed economic growth and political direction should make the Slovak market an increasingly attractive one in the next few years.