Asian Development Bank is about to provide a loan of Rs. 100 crore to the Medanta hospital chain to purchase the medical equipments and healthcare services to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project will support the purchase of personal protective equipment, basic hygiene products, and patient care equipment such as ventilators and beds.
It will also support staff training programmes on infection prevention and control. “Private sector healthcare services play a life-saving role during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Aniruddha Patil, Head of Health and Education Investments at ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department.
Patil said that Medanta’s proven expertise and leadership will further improve the resilience of India’s health system, allowing it to respond effectively to the current crisis and future healthcare challenges. Naresh Trehan, Global Health Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta said the partnership with ADB will meet its financing requirement. Global Health Pvt Ltd operates and manages hospitals across India under the Medanta brand with a total operational capacity of about 2,000 beds.
“The financing will help us focus on increasing healthcare capacity to satisfy the strong Indian demand for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related treatment,” Trehan said.
Debt financing by the bank is a part of a USD 20 billion assistance package announced in April 2020 by the multi-lateral funding agency to help its developing members to manage the pandemic.
The funding complements ADB’s sovereign support to India, including a USD 1.5 billion loan approved in April last year for COVID-19 containment and prevention, and social protection for poor and economically vulnerable communities such as women.
Global Health Private Ltd has four Medanta multi-super-specialty hospitals in Gurgaon, Lucknow, Indore, and Ranchi, with out-patient services in Patna which started in 2020. It also has three clinics at Delhi Airport, South Delhi, and DLF Cybercity. Its flagship hospital Medanta – The Medicity Gurugram, has over 1,300 beds, including 246 critical care beds.
Source : PTI
