First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has committed N20bn to finance private healthcare businesses in Nigeria as part of efforts to address funding challenges and support the expansion of healthcare services across the country.
The bank announced the Healthcare Fund at its inaugural healthcare summit in Lagos, saying the initiative would provide affordable, long-term capital to hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, maternity homes and other healthcare enterprises.
According to FCMB, the fund will support business expansion, acquisition of medical equipment, infrastructure development, working capital needs and technology investments aimed at improving healthcare delivery.
The initiative comes amid ongoing government efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare capacity and increase local production of medicines and medical devices, with a target of meeting 70 per cent of domestic demand by 2030 under the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain.
Speaking at the summit, FCMB’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Yemisi Edun, whose remarks were delivered by Executive Director, Corporate Services and Service Management, Felicia Obozuwa, described healthcare as both a social necessity and an economic priority.
“Healthcare is a social imperative and an economic priority. Building a strong healthcare system requires capital that is patient, affordable and long-term,” Edun said.
She explained that the N20bn fund forms part of a wider healthcare financing programme combining lending, advisory support and strategic partnerships to help healthcare businesses improve operations, strengthen governance and attract more investment.
The President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Njide Ndili, identified limited access to finance as one of the major challenges affecting private healthcare providers.
Ndili, referencing HFN’s partnership with the PharmAccess Medical Credit Fund, said healthcare businesses have shown strong repayment records when financing is combined with technical assistance, capacity building and quality improvement initiatives.
She disclosed that HFN would work with FCMB to develop a framework for pre-qualifying healthcare facilities and preparing businesses to become investment-ready.
The federation represents more than 400 member organisations and over 4,000 healthcare professionals.
The summit also highlighted the need for stronger corporate governance, improved financial reporting and better management capacity to enable healthcare businesses to effectively utilise long-term financing.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, said the Federal Government had increased investment in the health sector as part of efforts to improve healthcare access.
According to him, more than N339bn has been disbursed through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund over the past 12 years, including N235bn released in the last three years under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
He added that an additional N32.9bn had recently been disbursed to support over 8,300 primary healthcare centres nationwide, with plans to expand coverage to about 13,000 facilities.
Salako called for greater mobilisation of public and private capital to accelerate healthcare investment, urging healthcare operators to strengthen corporate governance, improve financial reporting and adopt blended finance models.
The summit also examined investment opportunities in primary healthcare, diagnostics, local pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical equipment, digital health and healthcare infrastructure as stakeholders explored ways to expand quality healthcare services across Nigeria.
