Nigeria’s healthcare sector needs more than additional funding to expand. It needs businesses capable of attracting capital, deploying it effectively and building institutions that can grow sustainably, healthcare stakeholders have said.
That challenge was at the centre of the inaugural First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Healthcare Summit in Lagos, where the bank unveiled a N20 billion Healthcare Fund to support private healthcare businesses.
The fund will provide financing to hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, maternity homes and other businesses across the healthcare value chain.
The summit, themed “Financing Growth: Unlocking Opportunity, Building the Future of Healthcare,” brought together policymakers, healthcare providers, investors, financial institutions and development partners to examine how more private capital can be channelled into Nigeria’s health sector.
At the heart of the discussions was a persistent financing problem: healthcare providers struggle to access affordable, long-term capital, while lenders and investors often require stronger governance, financial reporting and business structures before committing funds.
