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.
On June 24th the Governor of Cross River State Nigeria, Senator Liyel Imoke, signed a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement with a consortium of private parties specialized in healthcare management for a new specialist referral hospital.
This USD 35 million contract marks the realization of the first PPP hospital in West Africa.
Against the backdrop of Nigeria’s successful oil market and growing economy, living conditions for the country’s expanding population remain poor. Years of political instability and poor governance have led to insufficient investments in infrastructure and basic services such as a functioning public health system.
The Cross River State government now aims to strengthen its healthcare infrastructure. As part of this process, it hired the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a lead transaction advisor to manage the setting up of the PPP hospital. IFC subsequently selected PharmAccess Consultancy and their partner AMPC International Health Consultants to provide technical assistance. The PharmAccess Consultancy team provided technical assistance in the transaction structuring phase as well as the tender phase. In the first phase, PharmAccess Consultancy assessed the health needs, demand and supply in Cross River State and developed the health care strategy. PharmAccess Consultancy then designed the PPP structure and determined how the risks, responsibilities and benefits are to be divided.
The PPP model
The various partners of the PPP each bring their own expertise to the table. In this model, the government will finance the costs of construction and equipment. In addition, quarterly payments from the government will contribute to keeping the services affordable. The private operators receive a performance-based fee and are responsible for managing construction, equipment, maintenance and operation of the hospital. The PPP contract includes extensive descriptions of output specifications such as the service / quality standards and the monitoring and evaluation system in order to measure performance. PharmAccess Consultancy provided assistance on the description of these specifications. The consortium of private operators consists of Utopian Healthcare Consulting, SIMED (the Netherlands), Cure Healthcare Management Services (Hong Kong), CCP (Nigeria), Healthfore(India), and ITB (Nigeria).
The 105 bed referral hospital in the state capital Calabar will offer a comprehensive package of secondary healthcare services, including specialist care. It will operate as a ‘one-stop-shop’, covering the full treatment of patients: from the moment of consultation to diagnostics, treatment and follow-up. The hospital is expected to open in 2014. PharmAccess will continue to play a role through employment of the SafeCare Quality Assessment System, and PharmAccess Consultancy will most likely be involved in the clinical monitoring and evaluation of the PPP contract.
All in all, the PPP is expected to bring both economic and social benefits to the state and its population by creating jobs and generating trust in the healthcare system.
