By Adedapo Adesanya
Following the creation of credit support intervention fund by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the health sector, Unity Bank Plc has launched a product called UnityCares.
The new product is intended to ease the facilitation of on-lending scheme targeted at individuals, businesses, manufacturers and services providers in the healthcare sector.
UnityCares is a credit scheme, which is aimed at supporting indigenous pharmaceutical companies and healthcare practitioners and other value chains businesses to provide access to loan facilities of up to N2 billion per company at 5 per cent interest rate.
The new UnityCare product will thus help to improve access to affordable credits by players, reduce medical tourism and conserve foreign exchange.
It is also aimed at providing long-term, low-cost finance for healthcare infrastructural development, healthcare product manufacturing, healthcare services and pharmaceutical/medical product distribution and logistics services.
Leveraging on the apex bank’s credit support intervention for the health sector, UnityCares hopes to empower as many enterprises as meet the requirements for the facility.
The main target beneficiaries of the credit scheme include healthcare product manufacturers – pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment; healthcare service providers/medical facilities such as hospitals/clinics; diagnostic centres/laboratories; fitness and wellness centres; rehabilitation centres; dialysis centres and blood bank operators.
Others include the pharmaceutical/medical products distribution and logistics services and other human healthcare service providers as may be determined by the CBN from time to time.
To benefit from the UnityCares facility, a healthcare organisation may not need an account with Unity Bank to benefit from the on-lending scheme.
Commenting on the new UnityCares product, Divisional Head, Retail, SME & E-business, Unity Bank Plc, Mr Olufunwa Akinmade said: “UnityCares provides an invaluable opportunity to channel funds to Nigerian-owned healthcare businesses to build and expand capacity to meet exigencies for essential healthcare products and services in the face of unravelling global pandemic.
“We encourage operators in the health sector to take advantage of this affordable facility to expand their capacity while playing their part in curbing medical tourism and conserving the desperately-needed foreign exchange.”
Aduragbemi Omiyale