As part of efforts to make healthcare delivery more sustainable and efficient in Ghana, PharmAccess Group has launched the second phase of the Medical Credit Fund (MCF II), here in Ghana.

The MFC II, which is a €32.5 million loan facility, aims to reduce the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized healthcare enterprises in accessing loans and other credit facilities in order to expand their operations. and extend their reach.

Speaking at the launch of the loan facility in Accra on Wednesday, National Director of the Medical Credit Fund, Derrick Ewudzie-Odoom, explained that the essence of the facility is to address the bottlenecks associated with funding health care in Ghana.

According to him, his team is aware of the unique challenges affecting healthcare businesses in the country. He therefore said that MFC II loans are designed to meet these challenges, without requiring collateral from loan applicants.

“Over the years, our work hasn’t just been loans. We don’t just grant loans, but we back all the loans we grant with business support, quality coaching and training. And when we talk about business support, we help all health SMEs to design investment plans.

Often, healthcare companies have ideas that don’t turn into plans, and we engage them and design those plans so they can move forward; and we help them too. We provide financial management advice to ensure that they manage their business finances well,” said Mr. Ewudzie Odoom.

He also added that “we also help or assist them in planning their project. When they want to do construction, we help them manage the construction; how the flow of patients is supposed to be and the design of the hospital so that it is in tandem with modern trends.

At the ceremony, the first MCF II loan was handed over to Emil Memorial Hospital in Wenchi. Prior to the presentation of a dummy check for three million Ghanaian cedis, the hospital’s chief executive, Dr. Simon Koku Saku testified about the support received from the Fund to improve the operations of the hospital.

Dr. Saku said that since its inception, the hospital has gone through some difficulties, in the course of providing health care services to its clients. He said that in order to expand its operations, the hospital agreed to build some departments; an initiative made possible by MCF II.

“We have approached several financial institutions, local and international, to help us fund the project to complete a two-story building to house these departments. But unfortunately, no one was ready to lend us a hand by granting us the required credit. We heard about Medical Credit Fund through PharmAccess and decided to approach them to help fund the project.

After a careful evaluation of the project, the Medical Credit Fund agreed to finance the project and also purchase medical equipment worth several million Ghana cedis. The project is expected to be completed in June this year,” he said.

Dr. Saku therefore expressed his deep gratitude to the Fund for helping the hospital achieve its goals.

The Dutch Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Ambassador Jeroen Verheul, guest speaker at the event, expressed his joy at the launch of the Fund and applauded the impact of the initiative over the years.

He recounted his familiarity with the Medical Credit Fund, during his years as Ambassador to Uganda and Tanzania respectively. According to him, he also learned about the Fund at a conference in Nairobi in 2016, so he is happy that MCF II came to Ghana.

“So I have quite extensive exposure to the product that we are talking about here, and I must say that I am privileged and feel great pleasure to be able to launch the Medical Credit Fund II here in Ghana. And when we say number two, that means there has to be a number one. Like with kings and queens, there’s always a number one. And I think that laid the foundation for the number two that we’re launching here,” said the Dutch ambassador.

Senior Policy Adviser at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms Anouk Aarts also spoke of the importance of the Fund.

She reiterated that “health is wealth”, and therefore the MCF II package is a welcome idea.

The launch of MCF II brought together actors from the health sector. The Diocesan Bishop of the Catholic Church of Keta-Akatsi, Archbishop Gabriel Edoe Kumordji was among the list of dignitaries who graced the occasion.

National Director of PharmAcces, Dr. Maxwell Antwi, as well as Managing Director of the Medical Credit Fund, Mr. Arjan Poels, were also present at the event and shared a few words with the audience on the purpose of the Fund and how he seeks to improve the lot of the private health sector in Ghana.

As part of the ceremony, a panel discussion was moderated by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Healthcare Federation and Franklyn Medical Center, Dr. Lynda Decker, to discuss “Financing Healthcare Enterprises in Ghana “.

Speakers included the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Pharm. Samuel Kow Donkoh; the Country Director of GE Healthcare, Mr. Daniel Amo-Korankye and the General Manager of Cross Care Hospital in Sunyani, Mrs. Evelyn Dzantor.

The launch of the Fund was moderated by the Managing Director of Koforidua Clinic and a senior consultant from A-League Consult, Mr. John Affiadzi Appiah, amidst cultural displays from Vivie’s Dance Factory.

About MCF II

MCF recently announced the completion of a fundraising of 32.5 million euros for its second fund (MCF II). The funding round was anchored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which provided the first equity injection of €7.5 million in January 2021, to meet demand for loans at the height of the global crisis. COVID-19.

Also participating in this funding round are international organizations such as CDC Group, FMO, SwedFund and Philips. In addition, MCF will benefit from a guarantee facility from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which was initiated by the Health Finance Coalition (HFC) with support from the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the Center for Innovation & Impact from USAID (CII).

Through blended finance, MCF uses catalytic capital from public and private sources and aims to reach €80 million over the next few years and will support €400 million in lending to healthcare SMEs over the next decade. .

The launch of MCF II marks the beginning of a new era. An era in which MCF will further expand its reach and impact. MCF II will deploy innovative digital financing solutions to increase investments in health infrastructure in Africa and improve access to better primary health care services in Africa.

Starting in its current countries of operation (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda), and expanding its wings to other countries over time.