The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele has disclosed that the apex bank has so far funded 20 projects valued at N26.278 billion under the N100 billion credit support intervention for the health sector.
He made this disclosure during the inauguration of the Body of Experts (BoE) for Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme in Abuja on Monday.
The N100 billion credit support intervention fund for companies in the Health and Pharmaceutical sector in the country was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a CBN’s proactive measure to cushion the impact of COVID -19 on the economy and to support the growth of the healthcare sector.
Emefiele explained that some of the firms that had been able to obtain funding included hospitals, research centres and pharmaceutical industries.
He said that the primary challenges in Nigeria’s healthcare sector were inadequate funding, poor medical infrastructure and supplies, and inequitable distribution of health workers.
According to him, these problems contributed to the rise in medical tourism.
The CBN governor noted that the intervention fund would help improve healthcare delivery capacity while supporting improved production of health-related products and services.
The apex bank had also initiated the Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme (HSRDIS) to develop vaccines and drugs for infectious diseases, Emefiele added.
