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Afreximbank, Kings College Hospital Enter Agreement with Health Ministry for Healthcare Centre of Excellence in Nigeria

Afreximbank, Kings College Hospital Enter Agreement with Health Ministry for Healthcare Centre of Excellence in Nigeria

Abuja, 18 July 2017: – The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Kings College Hospital (KCH), London, and the Nigerian Ministry of Health have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate in developing a centre of excellence for healthcare in Nigeria.

Following a strategic alliance formed in 2014 between Afreximbank and KCH to establish a network of centres of excellence in tertiary healthcare across Africa, Nigeria was selected, on the basis of a macro-economic and sectorial study, as host country for the first centre. The centre will specialise in the treatment of cancer and sickle cell diseases and will cover four broad areas of medical practice, namely, clinical care, diagnostics, research, and education.

(L-R) Prof. Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health of Nigeria; Afreximbank President Dr. Benedict Oramah; and Prof. Ghulam Mufti, Non-Executive Director of the Board of Kings College Hospital, UK, following the signing of the MOU in Abuja.

Under the terms of the MOU signed in Abuja on 17 July, Afreximbank, the Ministry of Health and KCH will collaborate in the development of the centre by working together to raise funding and develop relationships, expertise and activities.

They will also collaborate to build capacity, provide technical support and promote integration with national and private healthcare insurance schemes while also exchanging information and building links to teaching hospitals and other training facilities.

The agreement also provides for special privileges to be granted by Nigeria to ensure optimal implementation of the project.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank said, “It is well known that Africans are among the largest populations that travel for medical services globally, with Nigeria alone spending about $1 billion in medical tourism”.

Deploring the high number of deaths across the continent due to inadequate healthcare facilities, he said, “As a Bank, we want to contribute towards changing this pattern. This is why we launched the Centre of Excellence initiative, in partnership with KCH, to foster the emergence of world class medical facilities and research centres across the continent.”

Responding, Prof. Isaac Adewole, the Nigerian Minister of Health, commended Afreximbank for the initiative and gave his ministry’s assurance of full support to make it a success.

“Investments in health are a prerequisite for economic development,” he said, adding that such investments constituted a significant contribution to GDP.

In his remarks, Prof. Ghulam Mufti, a non-executive director of the Board of KCH and a professor of haematological oncology at the hospital, said that the centre would ensure that Nigeria was in a better position to deal with ailments that are common in Africa, especially non-communicable diseases that had seen rising incidence due to changing lifestyles.

According to him, the parenting from KCH will ensure a strong research component and the transmigration of latest technological and clinical advances to the centre. Those will be key to attracting back medical professionals from the Diaspora, he said.

Afreximbank launched the Health and Medical Tourism Programme in 2014 to foster the emergence of world class medical and research infrastructure across Africa while also promoting employment, increasing intra-African medical tourism, limiting foreign exchange outflows and enabling African countries to diversify their economies, particularly in terms of service exports, in line with its IMPACT 2021 strategy.

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About Afreximbank:

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors. Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organization, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Since 1994, it has approved more than $51 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $10.3 billion in 2016. Afreximbank had total assets of $11.7 billion as at 31 December 2016 and is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo. For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com