Macedonian Healthcare Minister Nikola Todorov announced the creation of free healthcare zones, where foreign companies will be able to build hospitals for treatment exclusively of foreign citizens. The hospitals will receive Macedonian budgetary assistance provided they begin a long term investment and open new jobs in the healthcare industry.

- The entire concept is to create a healthcare zone at a larger, 15-20 hectares territory in Macedonia, most likely near Skopje, where foreign built and operated hospitals will be built. Interested companies will need to have a certain level of experience in the business and meet a certain level of quality. Macedonia will provide a package of benefits, that will include regional assistance and will meet up to 50 percent of the investment costs, or of the costs to open new jobs for two years, Minister Todorov said.

The hospitals that set up their business in this zone will also receive a competitive tax and customs package. They will not be required to pay any income tax for the first 10 years, and their employees will also be free from paying personal income tax for the same period.

- The hospitals will also be exempt from the value added tax and will not have to pay customs for imports of medical equipment, medicine, expendables, construction material for the building itself, electricity or vehicles and ambulances, Minister Todorov added.

The goal of this incentives package is to have companies that will implement the highest medical standards possible. The companies will be exempt from the VAT tax and the customs for up to 15 years if they also open an educational facility. The lecturers will need to work under a program that is used in some of the top 10 healthcare universities in the world and at least half of the lecturers themselves will also need to work at one of the top 100 universities in the world.

The Macedonian Government participate with up to 60 percent of the training costs for the workers. Minister Todorov, at the press conference held on Wednesday, also said that the hospitals will be exempt of municipal building taxes and the Government would participate with the cost of construction for up to 500.000 EUR.

- All companies that invest in this zone will have to implement modern methods for treatment, prevention and diagnostics of illnesses that have not been previously used in the Republic of Macedonia. If they choose to cancel the agreement before the term of 10 years is up, they will have to pay all back taxes they have been exempt from, Todorov added.

The services offered at the hospitals will not be made available to Macedonian citizens, or to citizens of Kosovo, which often use the current Macedonian healthcare providers. This measure is planned to prevent competition between the free healthcare zone and the current privately owned providers. The services offered in the zone will primarily be meant for "health tourists". Todorov said that the idea for the creation of this zone comes from visits and discussions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Scandinavian and Middle Eastern countries, Turkey, Switzerland and Germany. A workable example for this system can be found in Dubai, Todorov said, partially in South Korea, and it is being implemented in Turkey as well.

- The investors in the zone will have to show they work with at least one healthcare insurance fund in the country they are domiciled in, or in some of the European Union, or OECD countries. Both Macedonian and foreign doctors will be able to work in the zone. The hospitals will have to have at least 30 percent of foreign staff, which will need to have at least five years experience in EU or OECD countries, Todorov said, listing the details about how the zone is meant to operate.

Minister Todorov added that he hopes the first healthcare zone can be opened by 2017.