The intervention of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the nation’s healthcare system is developing the capacity of the sector to meet potential increase in demand for healthcare products and services.
The scheme is meeting the expectation of increasing private and public investment in the healthcare sector, facilitating improvement in healthcare delivery and reducing medical tourism to enhance foreign exchange conservation.
The CBN in response to COVID-19 pandemic, had in April 2020 taken measures to extend credit facilities of up to N100 billion to support intervention efforts geared towards the healthcare sector. It later, in October, increased the facility to N200 billion from the initial N100 billion due to demand.
The aim of the intervention is to stimulate economic activities locally within the healthcare sector, while making products and services readily available to service Nigerians, thereby building, diversifying and expanding the capacity of the Nigerian healthcare sector.
However, the CBN Credit support for the Healthcare sector is an on-lending intervention scheme for the Healthcare sector developed as part of the proactive measures to cushion the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assessment of the impact of the fund shows that the health sector has seen players access the fund to alleviate the harsh effects of the pandemic and in fact, set them on a real path of recovery.
Findings show that most local pharmaceutical industries with the aid of the fund have boosted their production capacities to manufacture facemasks, personal protective equipment (PPP), hand sanitisers, gloves, antiviral drugs, ventilators, medical supplies and vaccines.
Following the disbursement of the fund, the chemical and pharmaceutical products sub-sector of manufacturing, for instance, grew almost triple fold from 3.91 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 to 9.24 per cent in the second quarter of the same year, a gross domestic product (GDP) report released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
According to the report, the human health and social services sector almost doubled from 1.89 per cent in the second quarter of 2021 to 4.92 per cent in the second quarter of 2022.
The suspended CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, while hinting of plans to increase the healthcare intervention fund to N200 billion due to increased demand in October, 2021 said:
“When we started COVID-19, CBN set aside N100 billion to support the healthcare sector, but upon rise in demand, we have disbursed N107.7 billion, supporting 114 healthcare projects which include medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, dental services, eye clinics both private and public hospital just to mention a few.”
Emefiele, who spoke during official commissioning of the Dutchess International Hospital, the brainchild of the Reddington Hospital Group in Ikeja, Lagos, also said, “We had taken up N100 billion to support the sector but the Monetary Policy Committee has said we should move it further up to N200 billion. We would continue to do whatever can be done to support healthcare.
“I want to encourage our banks to lend to them and also members of our private sector community to invest, as you don’t have to be a doctor to own a medical facility,” the CBN has been collaborating with the banks to ensure that the funds are disbursed to the beneficiaries.