Dutch loan agency for doctors wins milestone G-20 funding to improve African healthcare

• Medical Credit Fund offers affordable loans to doctors and clinics to raise healthcare quality
• Fund to present its innovative finance model at the G-20 summit in Seoul
• The G-20 is committed to mobilizing the funding needed to scale the winning proposals

Amsterdam November 1 2010 – The Medical Credit Fund, a Netherlands-based non-commercial social investment fund that enables private clinics and doctors in sub-Saharan Africa to access affordable finance in order to improve healthcare quality, has been selected among the winners of the G-20 SME Finance Challenge.

The goal of the G-20 competition is to identify the best public-private partnerships worldwide that improve access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

SMEs in emerging economies are the single largest contributor to employment and job creation yet lack of access to finance is a major barrier to growth. Less than 20 percent worldwide has access to credit.

Private clinics in Africa provide about 50% of all health care provision, but commercial loans are often unaffordable. The Medical Credit Fund, launched in 2009 and managed by PharmAccess, a Dutch non-profit organization, addresses that critical issue by providing affordable loans, at better than market rates, and technical assistance for African healthcare providers to expand and invest in quality improvements.

Onno Schellekens, Chairman of the Medical Credit Fund, said, “This G-20 funding is a milestone that will enable the Medical Credit Fund to improve credit provision to a growing number of private healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa. It will help us meet our goal of enabling small and medium-size clinics to develop their businesses and improve medical standards.”

The fund not only catalyses badly-needed finance but also raises the standard of healthcare provision in sub-Saharan Africa because clinics are granted loans on the basis of their performance in improving healthcare standards.

The Medical Credit Fund program was visited by Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, the UN Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development in Tanzania in April.

The Medical Credit Fund is among 14 winners of the G-20 SME Finance Challenge, and has been invited to present its innovative inclusive finance model at the G-20 summit in Seoul on 11 and 12 November 2010.

Media Contact
For more information on the Medical Credit Fund and the G-20 SME Finance Challenge please contact Monique Dolfing-Vogelenzang, Fund director, telephone 00 31 6 23468077 or email  m.dolfing@medicalcreditfund.org

See also:
www.medicalcreditfund.org
www.pharmaccess.org
www.changemakers.com/SME-Finance

(Download Dutch language version)