Access Bank, GE Partner to Reduce Healthcare Delivery Cost

Ayodeji Ake

To reduce cost of quality healthcare delivery, Access Bank and GE Healthcare Africa have partnered to create accessible and repayable loans to healthcare providers to acquire health technologies.

Speaking at the signing of agreement for healthcare financing between Access Bank and GE Healthcare in Lagos recently, the President GE Africa and GE Healthcare Africa, Farid Fezoua noted that the partnership will go a long way by providing accessible healthcare services in Nigeria to reduce medical tourism.

“I commend Access Bank for investing into the healthcare business. The private sector is key and this is what we are talking about today, which is creating a platform to enable the private sector support healthcare.

“ I believe that in a country like Nigeria, the private sector has great potentials in looking into how to prevent patients leaving the country for medical tourism and having the ability to diagnose.

“This partnership will help healthcare providers to get loans and invest immediately. The interest rate we are working on to be preferable considering the loan status and repayment,” he said.

Speaking further, Fezoua said the partnership was channeled towards assisting healthcare providers acquire health technologies for credible diagnosis and combating non-communicable diseases.

He said: “The programme will target how technologies can be introduced towards reducing the incidences of non-communicable disease creating health problems.

“Health issues like cancer and diabetes. All we are trying to do is to have a direct ecosystem of private investors that will key in, not only in Lagos State, but outside Nigeria.

“One of the impacts of this partnership is that we are after quality diagnostics in Nigeria. The country is currently building a national insurance health system and this is being able to support patients and Nigerians to be able to cover their cost in getting access to quality healthcare.

“Another side is being able to provide quality healthcare delivery particularly diagnosis. What we want to do with Access Bank is to enable healthcare providers have the ability to access technology and to provide the right tariff when exercising the procedure that the common man in the street can benefit from.”

On his part, the Group Deputy Managing Director, Access Bank, Roosevelt Ogbonna, said the partnership was laudable, adding that it will aid in reducing the cost of quality healthcare and render assistance for healthcare investors.

‘This is a partnership that makes sense for our market in Nigeria. This is a way of making an impact in the health sector.
“Labour participation is low in Nigeria because of health issues mostly. This is real and we happy to be part of it because it will go a long way in impacting the economy,” he said.