Regional hospitals enter the medical equipment procurement stage. Between promise and delivery, after decades of waiting

ANDIS announced today that it is preparing to launch procurement procedures for medical equipment intended for the three regional emergency hospitals in Iași, Cluj and Craiova. The announcement marks an important stage in projects that began administratively many years ago and entered actual construction only in 2024, after roughly two decades of public promises.

ANDIS prepares procurement for equipping the regional hospitals

The National Agency for the Development of Health Infrastructure announced that, before launching the tenders, it will carry out a process of consultation and technical dialogue with interested economic operators. The aim is to prepare the procurement documentation and define technical specifications aligned with market realities.

The list of targeted equipment includes anesthesia machines and neonatal and adult ventilation systems, advanced medical imaging equipment, ultrasound, endoscopy, arthroscopy and laparoscopy systems, ECMO, heart-lung and hemodialysis equipment, robotic and surgical neuronavigation solutions, as well as operating theatre equipment.

The consultation concerns the three major healthcare infrastructure projects: the Iași Regional Emergency Hospital, the Cluj Regional Emergency Hospital and the Craiova Regional Emergency Hospital – Phase II.

Where the three regional hospitals stand today

In Craiova, construction works under Package 2 began on 4 April 2025, with an execution period of 40 months. The contract, worth approximately RON 1.87 billion excluding VAT, covers a hospital with 807 continuous hospitalization beds, 45 day-care beds, 19 operating rooms and a heliport.

In Iași, the main works began in March 2026, after a long period of preparation and procurement procedures. According to publicly available information, the hospital is expected to have 850 beds, with completion tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2029.

In Cluj, the contract for the main works was signed in May 2026. The hospital will have 849 beds, the investment in construction works amounts to RON 1.79 billion excluding VAT, and the announced execution period is 40 months.

From “the technical design is being prepared” to “the equipment is being prepared”

The history of Romania’s regional hospital projects is best read with a calendar close at hand. In 2019, the Ministry of Health announced the approval of the feasibility study for the Cluj Regional Emergency Hospital and the preparation of the next stages of financing and design.

That same year, Medic24 wrote, with the cautious optimism of the time, that “the technical design” of the Cluj Regional Emergency Hospital was being prepared. For anyone who wants to see just how relative time can become in healthcare infrastructure, the article remains available here: Ministry of Health: The technical design of the Cluj Regional Emergency Hospital is being prepared.

Since then, Romania has gone through feasibility studies, technical assistance agreements, approvals of investment indicators, funding applications, phasing between European programmes, tenders, appeals, preparatory works and, finally, contracts for the actual construction works. In 2024, the three hospitals effectively entered the construction phase, initially through early-stage works, after roughly 20 years of promises.

Why the equipment stage matters

The procurement of medical equipment is not a minor appendix to the project, but one of the components that will determine the real capacity of these hospitals to function as modern regional units. Equipping them with advanced imaging, minimally invasive surgery systems, intensive care equipment, ECMO, neuronavigation and surgical robotics will directly influence the type of cases that can be treated locally.

For patients, the key issue is reducing transfers between hospitals and concentrating complex services in a single regional centre. For physicians, these projects could mean real multidisciplinary infrastructure, not merely new buildings. For the health system, however, the lesson remains the same: in Romania, a full professional generation can pass between intention, design, tender, appeal, construction site and final equipment.

The ANDIS announcement on the preparation of equipment procurement is good news, but it comes after such a long administrative journey that it must be read with realism. Regional hospitals are no longer just electoral promises or presentation mock-ups. They now have construction sites, contracts and equipment procurement procedures. But they remain, for now, works in progress.

For the Romanian healthcare system, the real news will not be that the equipment is being prepared, but that the first devices are installed, tested, used by complete medical teams and effectively placed at the service of patients.