FOCOS Orthopedic Hospital in Accra on Monday outdoored a new, top-of-the-range CT Scanner, a diagnostic medical equipment, heralding the berthing in Ghana of EASE^® (Equipment-as-a-Service) healthcare, a subsidiary of the African Asset Finance Company that made the acquisition possible.

With major health facilities across the country in acute need of critical medical equipment, EASE^® has introduced its services to bridge the gap and break the barefaced barrier to quality healthcare in the country with a plan described by partners as unheralded.

The plan is pretty simple, according to officials of AAFC/EASE^® and FOCOS, and operates as a pay-per-use model where EASE^® purchases the required equipment, usually capital intensive, and places it directly in the health providers' facilities. The contractual obligations ensure that generated cashflows from equipment usage cover the payment for its use, eliminating the need for equity or bank loans.

Testimony

At the launch of the CT Scanner at the FOCOS Orthopedic Hospital at Pantang on Monday, it’s CEO Dr. Irene Wulff, said the plan sounded so simple she could hardly believe it.

“We prided ourselves in being a one-stop shop because we have everything in one place. And then our CT Scanner ran down and we had spent over GHȼ600,000 to fix it, but it broke down again so I was like, OK, at the end of it all we need a new one. I got quotes for it and they ranged between $750,000 and $1.2m depending on the brand and the specs. And then while I was busily tearing my hair up, in comes EASE^® Ghana, and they are telling me they will place the machine… I did all the checks and I was like, I think we can do this, and it is an honour to be your first customer,” she told the assembly of gratified guests of industry players and partners.

Ready to partner

Dr. Kanyinsola Oyeyinka, Managing Director of EASE^® Ghana and Vice President of Healthcare, AAFC said the company was ready and looks forward to partnering with public and private health facilities to expand its services, which ultimately seeks to reduce the financial burdens associated with equipment acquisition with dire implications for patients.

She said EASE^® Ghana currently specialises in providing diagnostic radiology equipment, including MRI scanners, CT scanners, Mammography equipment, X-rays, Ultrasound scanners, and fluoroscopy machines and plans to extend its services to include other types of medical equipment and broaden its reach to the ICT and Agriculture sectors.

“The success of EASE^® is built on strong partnerships with renowned Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Siemens Healthineers, GE, and Fuji. These partnerships ensure that customers receive top-tier equipment tailored to their specific needs.”

And to guarantee optimal equipment performance and reliability EASE^® goes beyond equipment provision to offer an all-inclusive service package, which includes maintenance, operator training, and ongoing support.

Affordable quality healthcare possible

The CEO of AAFC, Mr. Frans VanSchaik while highlighting the need for innovative healthcare financing, appealed to the Government of Ghana to reinstate the exemption of duties on health equipment to further drive down the cost of healthcare for both caregivers and patients, explaining that even a 5 per cent decrease in cost goes a long way to ease the financial burdens for all.

While praising Ghana for her democratic endurance and independence, he said independence and liberty for him is great if it comes with a lot of rights, including the right to quality healthcare, explaining also that AAFC plans to invest $75 million installing equipment in Ghana to make quality healthcare both accessible and affordable.

“The least we can do here is to try and make a bit of difference” in the lives of the people, he emphasized.

The CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. Yoofi Grant said he was both surprised and encouraged by the financing model being rolled out by EASE^®, saying that asset financing for government and the private sector is hardly an easy undertaking, with government lacking the wherewithal while the private sector also finds payback time very long.

“Health itself has always been a challenge and it’s a challenge everywhere in the world. Health itself is probably one of the most expensive human demands anywhere, because it’s a lot of technology, it’s a lot of expertise so to engineer a structure that actually finances an asset with cashflow is creative very innovative particularly for Africa and I think that you couldn’t have had a better landing than in Ghana because government itself has initiated a programme called Agenda 111 which means putting health facility 111 places, which in itself as much as it is required, has its own challenges, because you need to equip, personnel, medicine, so that creates its own economy so if you have this coming to where the equipment is required and it doesn’t put pressure on the operators or the deliverers of service, then it can’t be anything but a great thing.”