PharmAccess is a group of non-profit organizations dedicated to improving access to quality healthcare in Africa. PharmAccess mobilizes public and private resources for the benefit of doctors and patients through clinical standards and quality improvements, loans for healthcare providers, health insurance, mHealth innovations and operational research.
This integrated approach is made possible by the following organizations:
Mobilizing capital into the private health sector
Many small and medium-sized clinics in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to find the money to purchase modern equipment, expand their facilities or even pay for basic repairs. Medical Credit Fund provides performance-based financing in combination with capacity building through SafeCare, trainings and other support services (link to quality improvement page). Through Medical Credit Fund we help healthcare providers build a financial track record and become bankable, grow their business acumen and improve the quality of their healthcare services.
We combine access to loans for private healthcare providers with a performance-based system for improving business performance and quality. Our approach hinges on very close cooperation with and between healthcare providers with technical assistance partners to support healthcare providers in writing business plans and building up a credit history, and with partner banks. Next to sharing repayment risk with local banks for the loans provided to health SMEs we train bank staff in the opportunities and specific risk profile of the health SME sector.
Ultimately, we aim to contribute to a financially sound healthcare system in Africa by building a strong private sector that complements the public system and provides improved quality services for all.
Medical Credit Fund’s hybrid investment fund has a unique ‘layered capital’ structure that blends debt financing for the loan program with grants for technical advisory services and first loss. In the event that clinics are unable to pay back their loans, the first loss grants absorb this setback, thereby lowering the risk for the debt investors. By using philanthropic capital to leverage funding from private and public sources, we have been able to increase our developmental impact significantly. The growing role of the mobile phone in day-to-day financial services like sending mobile money or paying electricity bills or school fees also opens up new opportunities for innovative financing products. Mobile payment mechanisms that make risks transparent will allow us to expand and increase loan disbursements parallel to the more traditional banking channel. In partnership with CarePay, we have developed a mobile cash advance product: a short-term loan that will benefit from the low transaction costs. Such innovations tend to benefit especially the smaller healthcare facilities with the most difficulty accessing capital.
View the Medical Credit Fund Dashboard
Learn more about Medical Credit Fund
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“Before joining the program, the bank lacked the technical know how to provide loans for private healthcare practitioners.
Medical Credit Fund has opened up these avenues by bringing in bankable loan proposals and by setting up risk and fund sharing agreements. We then perform due diligence according to our own lending mechanisms. Upon disbursement, we monitor the loan to ensure timely repayment and provide training’s on relevant financial topics such as account operations and proposal writing.”
– Esther Daudi Business Development Officer Special Projects K-REP bank, Nairobi
Medical Credit Fund in Tanzania
Clinics and dispensaries, which are valuable first and sometimes only points of health care access for many people, are often not able to improve their services because small loans are not easily accessible. As doctor John Rukazibwa, owner of Mission Mbagala Dispensary in Dar es Salam explains. “It has been difficult for us to obtain a loan because we don’t have collateral.” We provides business training and advice as well as sustainable methods on how to improve their image and services so that financial service providers see the value in with providing them with loans.
Investments briefs
The Investments briefs provide an overview, insights and background on several projects, or subject areas usually dealt with in long form researches conducted by PharmAccess and our partners.
Medical Credit Fund Progress Reports
Here you can find the Medical Credit Fund progress reports
AHTC, Tower C4 • Paasheuvelweg 25
1105 BP Amsterdam • The Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0) 20 – 210 3920
E-mail: info@pharmaccess.org
