The Board Chairman of New Crystal Health Services (NCHS), Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, has underscored the need for private healthcare facilities to seek strategic partnerships that will inject capital into their operations. He said such capital injections will enable them to operate more efficiently and attend to the health needs of a lot more people.
Prof. Akosa described the private healthcare sector in Ghana as a cottage industry, and said there is need for them to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach in their mode of operations and attract external funding to revamp their operations.
Prof. Akosa is a former Director General of the Ghana Health Services, and was speaking on the back of a US$ 5.7million support from international investors to NCHS to enable it build two new state-of-the-art hospitals and give three of its other facilities a complete facelift. The financial support comprises a loan of US$2.5million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, and equity of €3million from impact investment group, Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) with headquarters in France.
Prof. Akosa described the capital injection into operations of NCHS as “timely and absolutely crucial”. He said NCHS has a good business model that enabled it to attract funds from the reputable international investors. He added that it will enable the healthcare provider to continue serving the low-income group, but also extend its quality healthcare to the middle- and upper-classes within its catchment areas.
Prof Akosa urged other private healthcare providers to look outward for financial support in order to expand and support healthcare in Ghana.
Financial Consultant Mr. Sydney Casely-Hayford, who is also a Board Member of NCHS, said they are upbeat about operations of the company going into the future. He said the expected upgrade in infrastructure will enable it to serve more people as well as expand to other regions of the country. “We see New Crystal giving quality healthcare in other towns and cities beside Takoradi, Tema and Ashaiman; and actually becoming a centre of choice for patients from neighbouring countries.”
The Board of NCHS consider the capital injection as the means to a greater end, and said it will continue to explore such strategic partnerships in order to achieve the company’s goal of becoming the preferred healthcare provider in the sub-region.
NCHS is expected to add new and essential services such as intensive care, paediatric care and (complex) surgical services, as well as care for lifestyle diseases to its current offerings. The healthcare provider currently has seven networked hospitals in Ashaiman, Tema and Takoradi, and a modern diagnostic centre and other allied healthcare institutions.
