Co-op Bank and IFC to Fund Healthcare Equipment Purchase

Co-op Bank has teamed up with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide credit to healthcare firms at friendly terms.

Those targeted are clinics, hospitals, and laboratories with a maximum of 300 employees, who will access 90 percent asset financing of up to KSh200 million.

The deal reached between IFC’s Africa Medical Equipment Facility and Co-op Bank seeks to offer the small and medium-sized healthcare businesses local currency loans for purchase or lease of medical equipment.

“The post-pandemic recovery needs to be supported at all levels within the health sector,” said Amena Arif, IFC Country Manager for Kenya.

She made these remarks during the launch of a small business training program under the Medical Equipment Facility.

The financed asset will be the primary security and all risk insurance cover will be provided through Co-op Bank Bancassurance.

The repayment period for loans accessed under the scheme extends to 60 months and not the usual 36 months, while the interest rate is at 10 percent compared to the banking industry’s average of 12.1 percent.

Under the scheme, IFC has also partnered with original equipment manufacturers and the Kenya Healthcare Federation to provide training on the purchase of vital medical equipment for the businesses.

Philipps, GE Healthcare, and Karl Storz are the initial participating medical equipment manufacturers. There are plans to open up space for more vendors in the course of 2022.

Training healthcare SMEs will enable them to plan, budget, and do procurement of advanced medical equipment they need to serve patients. The training program is supported by the Government of Norway;