GE Healthcare and the National Bank of Egypt have signed a cooperation protocol that will enable the community to access advanced healthcare by supporting small and medium medical service providers with affordable financing solutions to purchase GE’s advanced medical equipment.
The agreement was signed by Mohamed Haroun, General Manager, North East Africa, GE Healthcare and Yehia Abo El Fettouh, Deputy Chairman, National Bank of Egypt, in the presence of Mamdouh Afia, Head of Small & Medium Enterprises Group, National Bank of Egypt; Yasmin Khattab, Head of Healthcare Financial Services, GE; Yehia Mourad, CFO, GE Healthcare NEA and senior officials of both entities.
The agreement builds on the government’s ongoing efforts to develop the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector and create job opportunities for Egyptian youth, in addition to catalysing economic growth, given the important role that SMEs play in driving social and economic progress.
Mohamed Haroun, General Manager, North East Africa, GE Healthcare, said: “While the healthcare sector has always been a priority area, the COVID-19 pandemic has further underlined the need to strengthen it, particularly by empowering the SME sector to build a specialized healthcare supply chain. Through our cooperation with the National Bank of Egypt, we aim to strengthen the capabilities of small and medium healthcare enterprises – from hospitals, radiology centres and laboratories and other key services providers – with advanced imaging and diagnosis equipment by GE Healthcare. This will not only enhance their competitiveness but also contribute to assuring timely diagnosis and better treatment outcomes for the community.”
Yehia Abo El Fetouh, Deputy Chairman, National Bank of Egypt, added: “As the leading bank in the country focused on supporting the government’s vision to drive all-round progress, we see a strong opportunity to build the healthcare SME value chain through our partnership with GE Healthcare. The company is an innovator of cutting-edge medical equipment that are vital in delivering excellent care for the people. We are confident that the agreement will help catalyze the SME sector and further enable the country to provide excellent healthcare services for the people.”
The new financing initiatives for SMEs to purchase GE Healthcare equipment will be aligned with the protocols set by the Egyptian Central Bank regarding support for the SME sectors. Through the affordable financing solutions from the National Bank of Egypt, small and medium enterprises can scale up their offering with the latest medical technologies by GE Healthcare.
GE Healthcare will nominate SMEs for securing the affordable financing for the purchase of medical equipment. The National Bank of Egypt will evaluate the nominations and conduct all due diligence and provide the necessary financing in accordance with the credit policy and rules.þ
With its country office in Cairo, GE has been operating in Egypt for over 45 years. Today, over 12,600 GE Healthcare technologies are deployed in hospitals across the country.
