A businessman with management experience at several companies, Kopač believes his lack of a healthcare background could be an advantage in efforts to rework UKC Ljubljana's finances.

Čokl, who served as interim boss since the end of last year, said the main challenges are the rising costs of medications and medicinal supplies.

In her brief time, staff satisfaction has improved as the hospital has provided for timely payment of overtime, which has however added EUR 1m to expenditure.

Slovenia's biggest public hospital has been reporting annual losses due to disagreements with the ZZZS manager of the public health budget over the scope of activities. It finished last year with a loss of EUR 6.2m, EUR 3.3m less than a year earlier.

The financial state leaves Kopač with the "tall task" of finding solutions. "The situation is complex and has been dragging on for several years," the 44-year-old economist said.

According to him, solutions will require revenue- and cost-side measures and an in-depth revenue of the situation at individual clinics. Given that labour costs are pretty much fixed, cost-saving measures will have to focus on organisation and procurement.

In regards to the latter, Kopač said he had no ties to major suppliers in health, which would make him a tough negotiator, especially as he had previously worked in purchasing for a major company.

Kopač said he was looking to establish strong cooperation with health managers at the hospital and its clinics. Yet he would not go into more detail about the situation at UKC Ljubljana.