A partnership between International Finance Corporation (IFC) and South African radiology specialist Bergman, Ross and Partners Incorporated (BRP) announced today will help increase access to world-class medical diagnostic services, including for COVID-19, tuberculosis, and other respiratory illnesses, for thousands of Ghanaians.
Under the partnership, IFC will invest roughly $3 million in Quest Medical Imaging (QMI) Ghana, which is majority owned by BRP. The financing will help QMI build new medical diagnostic facilities in Accra to complement an existing facility in the city that provides ultrasound, fluoroscopy, digital X-ray, 3D mammography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
These technologies help referring clinicians with accurate diagnosis so they can appropriately treat diseases.
The new facilities, expected to be operational by the end of 2022, will help QMI serve in excess of 5,000 patients monthly, up from the 3,000 it serves today. Expanding access to diagnostic services is crucial in Ghana, which has a population of 30 million people, but fewer than two dozen CT scanners. The partnership announced today will increase the number of scanners and other diagnostic equipment in the country.
Jack Bergman, BRP’s founder and managing partner, said, “We have seen a 50 percent surge in demand for our services in Ghana since the beginning of the pandemic and we have responded by expanding our operations to seven days a week. With IFC’s support, the new facilities will help us meet the needs of our patients for world-class medical diagnostic imaging and analysis.”
Ronke Ogunsulire, IFC’s Country Manager for Ghana, said, “As we deal with the present emergency, IFC is also thinking beyond the pandemic. IFC’s investment in the expansion of QMI increases Ghana’s domestic capacity for diagnostic services and strengthens the resilience of Ghana’s health system to deal with future stress.”
BRP’s digital systems enable its radiologists to import images from distant locations for analysis, something expected to allow QMI to expand outside Accra and into other parts of Ghana. BRP is also training Ghanaian technicians to undertake world-class medical diagnostics.
IFC’s investment in QMI falls under IFC’s Global Health Platform, which mobilizes private investment to close the massive healthcare supply gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This investment will be IFC’s third in healthcare in Ghana since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The combined value of those investments is more than $10 million. Over the last decade, IFC has provided over $4 billion in financing and advisory services to Ghanaian companies in sectors such as agribusiness, education, energy, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, tourism, and transport.
