Access Bank, GE Healthcare boost access to infrastructure

By Collins Nweze

As part of continued efforts to revamp Nigeria’s health sector, Access Bank has announced a partnership with GE Healthcare Systems to provide cost-efficient and flexible financing for healthcare providers.

The finance scheme is specifically designed to address major challenges experienced by healthcare providers in accessing finance, including onerous documentation and stiff collateral requirements, huge financing cost, short loan periods amongst others. Access Bank will offer healthcare providers finance of up to N300 million towards the purchase of equipment from GE Healthcare.

Commenting on the scheme, Access Bank’s Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe, said the bank’s support is geared towards encouraging entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunities that lie within the sector.

“Healthcare financing schemes usually come with a lot of bottlenecks which make access to finance difficult for applicants, consequently slowing down the growth of the Nigerian health sector. At Access Bank, we have decided to encourage healthcare entrepreneurs at this time to take advantage of the opportunities that lie within the sector, offering them access to finance devoid of bottlenecks such as stiff collaterals, difficult documentations and so on.

“As a bank, we are committed to partnering with public and private sector stakeholders to ensure that the health sector is positioned to serve Nigerians in a manner that meets up with global best practices” he concluded.

Upon submission of the required documents, the loans will be disbursed within three to 10 days and tenored for up to five years. The financing scheme covers a diverse range of equipment including Digital Imaging equipment, Ultrasound equipment, Life Care Support equipment among others.

To benefit from this offering, healthcare providers must have been in operation for at least one year with the key promoter having a minimum of four years’ experience in a public or private firm. Furthermore, organisations must have a valid registration with the CAC and relevant regulatory authorities while also possessing a bank statement showing account activity over one year.