The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FCMB, Yemisi Edun

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FCMB, Yemisi Edun. Photo: FCMB

FCMB has committed N20bn to finance private healthcare businesses in Nigeria as part of efforts to improve access to long-term capital for operators across the sector.

The bank said in a statement on Thursday that the N20bn Healthcare Fund was announced at its inaugural healthcare summit in Lagos, saying the financing will target hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, maternity homes and other healthcare enterprises.

According to FCMB, the fund will support business expansion, the purchase of medical equipment, infrastructure development, working capital and technology investments.

The initiative comes as the Federal Government seeks to expand healthcare capacity and increase local production of medicines and medical devices. Under the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain, the government aims to achieve 70 per cent local production of medicines and medical devices by 2030.

Speaking at the summit, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FCMB, Yemisi Edun, whose remarks were delivered by the Executive Director, Corporate Services and Service Management, Felicia Obozuwa, said access to affordable, long-term financing remained critical to strengthening the healthcare sector.

“Healthcare is a social imperative and an economic priority. Building a strong healthcare system requires capital that is patient, affordable and long-term,” Edun said.

FCMB said the fund forms part of a broader healthcare financing programme that combines lending with advisory services and strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening healthcare businesses and improving their ability to attract investment.

The President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, Njide Ndili, said access to finance remained one of the biggest challenges facing private healthcare operators.

Ndili said the federation’s partnership with the PharmAccess Medical Credit Fund demonstrated that small and medium-sized healthcare businesses could achieve strong loan repayment performance when financing is supported by technical assistance, capacity building and quality standards.

She added that the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria would work with FCMB to develop a framework for pre-qualifying healthcare facilities and preparing businesses to attract investment. The federation has more than 400 member organisations and 4,000 professionals.

According to FCMB, the initiative is also intended to improve governance, financial reporting, management capacity and growth planning among healthcare businesses to enable them to utilise financing more effectively.

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, said the Federal Government had increased public investment in the sector, disbursing more than N339bn through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund over the past 12 years, including N235bn in the last three years under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.

Salako added that a further N32.9bn had recently been disbursed to support more than 8,300 primary healthcare centres, with plans to expand coverage to about 13,000 facilities nationwide.

He called for greater mobilisation of public and private capital and urged healthcare operators to strengthen corporate governance, improve financial reporting and adopt blended-finance structures to support growth.

The summit also examined investment opportunities in primary healthcare, diagnostics, local pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical equipment, digital health and healthcare infrastructure.

FCMB said its healthcare financing programme is designed to support businesses across the healthcare value chain as they expand capacity and improve service delivery.