Jane Ike-Okoli, Head, Specialised Sectors, Stanbic IBTC Bank, has said that healthcare financing is key to advancing the health sector in Nigeria.
Jane said this at the Medic West Africa 2022 Access to Healthcare conference themed: ‘Healthcare financing and the Business of Health’ which held at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos State.
“HealthCare lending to the healthcare sector comes with its peculiarities through adequate, efficient, and executable business strategy to grow healthcare businesses.”
She said that Nigeria’s health sector was not where it should be and the country is actually taking steps in the right direction, but because of budget allocation, we’re not where we need to be just yet. Adding that the minimum the country should have for budget allocations and the healthcare sector is 15 percent but we have less than 5 percent.
Industrially, she pointed out that there is a need to leverage strategic partnerships that would help the healthcare businesses to provide the function with finance equipment, medical equipment, and National and international development finance institutions (DFIs).
Speaking from experience, Jane noted that as a healthcare business or healthcare provider, organisations need to provide guarantees if a bank or financial institution is willing to lend.
Jane told the health forum that there is a need to also build a very strong cash pool when you have a very good vision about your healthcare business, or you’re in a sector either as an equipment medical equipment dealer or as a hospital owner or a pharmacy owner or you own a diagnostic center, you need to ensure that your business plan is being tracked on a monthly basis.
“The effort identifies the importance of innovative healthcare financing in pursuit of sustainable healthcare and goes beyond direct healthcare delivery that includes tackling the social determinants of health. At Stanbic IBTC, we have launched a short-term loan for healthcare businesses, where they can access loans worth millions of naira for about 12 months. We’ve also launched the term loan for up to three years. We also provide long term funds for healthcare providers from 7 to 10 years,” she said.
Also speaking at the conference, Akin Abayomi, commissioner for Health, Lagos state said better health financing could be achieved through strengthening primary healthcare (PHC).
According to him, “We believe and understand that the bedrock of healthcare delivery is at the primary healthcare level and Lagos state is making progress in terms of how we manage the primary healthcare structures."
“We realised that a significant number of our PHCs is not in a fit state 100percent efficiency and very poor maintenance culture over these facilities. The state government will soon invite the private sector to come in."
“Anyone interested can either build his own PHC and manage it or take over a government facility, bring it back to operational standards and continue to run the health facility under the auspices of the primary health care board."
“That way, we will accelerate the rejuvenation of the dilapidated PHCs in the state, because the government can’t build all of them in one or two years. It is going to take us five to 10 years to completely transform the landscape with new designs. So, moving forward, with the private sector now involved, it is going to be a combination of refurbishing,” he said.
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