Tunis/Tunisia — Nearly 97% of private clinics are no longer able to cover their operating costs due to the coronavirus crisis, according to a study on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on private clinics in Tunisia conducted by the Tunisia Health Alliance.
This study, the first in a series on the social, economic and financial impact on the health sub-sectors, warns that the situation of the private healthcare sector is alarming and calls for specific short-, medium- and long-term measures to be taken in response to the health crisis.
During the COVID-19 crisis, the study shows that one out of two clinics lost at least 85% of their usual turnover and 3/4 of the clinics lost at least 70% of their turnover.
With the general economic crisis, the clinics foresee a 30% drop in local market demand for the next period and a gradual recovery of international activity only in early 2021, when one clinic in two makes at least 40% of its turnover from foreign patients.
With a turnover estimated at 870 million dinars in 2019, the private clinic sector is part of a global ecosystem of health services that generates more than 2.5 billion dinars of direct and indirect income from exports.
