July 18 (Reuters) - Swedish medical equipment maker Getinge reported bigger-than-expected core earnings for the second quarter on Thursday, as its order intake grew organically despite prolonged problems with its product packaging and heart products.

Its earnings before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA), adjusted for items affecting comparability, were 981 million Swedish crowns ($93 million) in the quarter, nearly doubling from the 495 million crowns it reported a year earlier.

That beat analysts' expectations of 829 million crowns, a company-provided consensus poll showed.

Getinge has struggled to resolve quality problems with its heart pumps and with sterile packaging of products for heart-lung support systems, which have squeezed its margins and knocked its shares since the second quarter last year. ($1 = 10.5502 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)