AFRICA – Standard Bank and GE Healthcare, the US medical imaging company, has announced a US$80 million in new financing over the next five years to extend their South Africa collaboration on radiology equipment to other African countries.
The deal was announced at the African Business Forum, part of the third US-Africa Summit under way in Washington, which is expected to see more than a dozen new financial commitments declared by US and African companies in sectors ranging from climate and energy to healthcare.
The Standard Bank-GE Healthcare partnership has already disbursed $37.4m of GE Healthcare’s specialised radiology equipment in SA. The parties will continue to support SA and expand their work into underserved communities in Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique and Angola, they said in a joint statement.
“The financial services sector can and should play a major role in creating social, economic and environmental value,” said Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala.
“Further investment into cutting-edge technology, along with support for specialists to start and grow practices in rural and urban communities across Africa, will make an important contribution to improving access to high-quality healthcare.”
GM for GE Sub-Saharan Africa Eyong Ebai said the company aimed to help clinicians make more accurate diagnoses, reduce disease incidence and improve patient outcomes.
“We must all work together to rise to both challenges and opportunities by implementing innovative models and technologies,” he said.
“Across Africa, GE Healthcare works as part of an ecosystem to deliver tailor-made services that look beyond just technology to offer solutions and make a positive impact. As we work to help clinicians make more accurate diagnoses, reduce incidents of disease, and improve outcomes, this collaboration puts the patient at the centre of everything we do.”
Further healthcare announcements are expected from health technology company mPharma about plans to upgrade community pharmacies in Nigeria to healthcare facilities, and from pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer, which will add Uganda to a small group of African countries that it supplies with its patented medicines and vaccines on a nonprofit basis.
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