MCF reaches another important milestone: $50 million loans disbursed

From creating an innovative blended finance fund and winning the G20 SME Finance Challenge Award in 2010 to successfully closing several rounds of financing.
In 2019, we reached another important milestone. Since our inception $50 million loans have been disbursed to 1,467 healthcare providers across six countries; Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Liberia. Meaning, healthcare providers have been able to invest and grow their business sustainability, efficiently and most importantly improve the services and quality of the care they are providing to their communities.

One of MCF’s recent investments, Nagel Memorial Adventist Hospital (NMH) in Ghana, has benefited significantly. NMH started operations in 1999 as a clinic. In 2015 it was upgraded to hospital status and accredited by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as a primary care provider. Before the loan, NMH was facing severe space constraint which affected process flows with a lot of crowding during clinic hours. The overcrowding and long waiting times made NMH unattractive to its patients. Frustratingly, they had licenses to provide specialist services, such as a dental and eye care, but provision was restricted because of space limitations.

Alex Osei-Bonsu, Head of Finance and Administration of NMH said, ‘’we first came to know of MCF at CHAG’s Annual Conference in 2017. We were seriously considering expansion and were looking for funding sources, therefore, meeting MCF at that time was welcoming news for us.’’

MCF introduced Nagel Memorial Adventist Hospital to Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd and they commenced the loan process. In partnership with the bank, MCF funded loan amount of GHS 2.2 million (USD 450,000) that was granted NMH in a few months later. The purpose of the loan was to purchase and renovate another building very close to the existing facility and set up units to help decongest the hospital.

Alex Osei-Bonsu shared that, with this loan NMH has been able to resolve the severe space constraints, expand its services and attract more clients. The loan not only supported the physical expansion, but the purchase of specialist theatre, laboratory, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) equipment as well as meet functional needs; a new generator plant, water borehole and incinerator. Thanks to the expansion, NMH has recorded a 19% increase in patient visits within six months.

At the same time, NMH was introduced to SafeCare, the PharmAccess Group’s quality program. The hospital embarked on the quality improvement journey achieving level three on a stepwise program of five. With the achievement of SafeCare level four in their sights for 2019 – the hospital wants to prove that with strong quality systems they can serve their patients with the best quality care.

Nagel Memorial Adventist Hospital is just one healthcare provider’s story on the road to success. With many more loans, being disbursed every week the impact of MCF investments in SMEs will continue to impact healthcare markets for years to come. Not only for patients to benefit from better quality care, but also to prove that health SMEs are reliable and trusted borrowers.