Montenegro’s planned centralisation of digital healthcare could expand demand for health software, medical-equipment tracking, maintenance and lifecycle-management services, alongside rising public spending on medical aids. The government approved the establishment of an Agency for Digital Health. The agency will operate the integrated health information system, maintain registries of patients and healthcare providers, establish interoperability standards and certify systems seeking access to the national platform.
The 2026 budget provides €4.88 million for health-system digitalisation, including the establishment of the new agency. The changes will extend beyond hospital information technology. Private clinics, laboratories, pharmacies, medical-equipment suppliers and other healthcare providers will increasingly need systems capable of exchanging information under common technical and security requirements. This is expected to create requirements for software integration, cybersecurity, digital identity, consent management, medical-data interoperability and certification.
A separate area of healthcare spending illustrates the potential for more structured equipment management. Montenegro’s Health Insurance Fund spent more than €5 million on approximately 45,000 orthopaedic and other medical aids between 2023 and 2025. The purchases included wheelchairs, prostheses, orthoses, walking aids and specialist beds. Some of these devices are intended to be returned when they are no longer required. The Fund has nevertheless stated that it has not carried out a cost-effectiveness analysis of recovering, refurbishing and reissuing the equipment.
Digital Tracking Could Cover Equipment Lifecycles
The current procurement model leaves scope for broader management of medical equipment as reusable assets, including tracking from initial purchase and allocation through servicing, return, refurbishment and final disposal. A digital registry could record the location of devices, users, maintenance history and availability for reassignment. For equipment such as wheelchairs, specialist beds and certain mobility aids, refurbishment could reduce replacement requirements where clinical and safety standards permit reuse.
Such a system could generate recurring demand for medical-device maintenance, refurbishment, logistics and asset-management software, shifting part of healthcare expenditure from one-time purchases towards ongoing equipment services. Demographic trends also increase the relevance of equipment lifecycle management. An ageing population raises demand for mobility aids, home-care equipment, rehabilitation services and chronic-disease monitoring. The planned Digital Health Agency could provide part of the digital infrastructure required for these processes, although no dedicated national medical-device tracking system has been announced.
Private Healthcare Providers Also Could Use Digital Asset Systems
The potential market extends to private-sector healthcare. Private insurers, home-health providers and elderly-care operators could use comparable systems to manage medical devices, coordinate services and monitor patients remotely. The agency’s certification role will also establish technical requirements for systems seeking connection to Montenegro’s national health infrastructure. Technology providers will need to demonstrate interoperability, cybersecurity and data-protection compliance as systems become subject to common requirements.
This could create a market for specialised health-technology providers capable of integrating their platforms with broader healthcare infrastructure, rather than standalone software products without such interoperability. The establishment of the Agency for Digital Health, combined with the €4.88 million 2026 digitalisation allocation and more than €5 million spent on medical aids between 2023 and 2025, places software, data management, equipment servicing and logistics within Montenegro’s developing digital-health infrastructure.
