IFU, on behalf of the Danish SDG Investment Fund, has invested DKK 290m ($44.11) in Humania, which builds and operates private hospitals in Egypt and Morocco.

Additional equity partners are IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Proparco, the private sector financing arm of Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Lars Krogsgaard, CIO, IFU, said: “I am very pleased that we with this investment can support the national healthcare sector in Egypt and Morocco by adding high quality capacity to an underserved sector that will benefit the wider population and patients across income levels.”

The investment will contribute to increased capacity and introduce high-quality healthcare based on international standards.

In total, it will add approximately 600 hospital beds and service 1.6 million patients annually when fully implemented.

The healthcare sectors in Egypt and Morocco are underserved and in dire need of investments to meet demand and increase quality.

In Egypt, the number of public hospital beds has declined by thousands, while Morocco needs to improve healthcare delivery especially for women and children.

Humania will invest DKK 2.5bn in hospitals and out-patient clinics in Cairo, Alexandria and Casablanca, thereby increasing capacity and introducing high-quality care based on international standards.

The first hospital, SGH Cairo, has been operating for four years, and when all hospitals and clinics are in place, the investment will add 600 hospital beds and service 1.6 million patients annually.

In Egypt and Morocco, the private sector is an integrated part of the healthcare sector providing services for white as well as blue-collar workers through different insurance schemes.

To reach universal health coverage the national governments see the private sector as instrumental.

“This investment will introduce a large professional hospital operator that can assist in transforming the private healthcare sector from a doctor-led system to a more transparent, coherent and efficient system improving services as well as access for people,” said Krogsgaard.

Total employment is expected to reach 6,500 full-time jobs, of which more than 60% will be medical and healthcare staff.

A significant portion of the doctors will be recruited from other Gulf countries or among Egyptian doctors working abroad, thereby increasing the overall availability of medical practitioners in Egypt.

All staff members are employed full time, which provides improved job security and working conditions.

Moreover, the company will facilitate transfer of knowledge between expat medical and local staff, and provide better training and development opportunities through its network.

The project sponsor is Bait Al Batterjee Medical, a Saudi-based family company, that has been engaged in the healthcare industry for 30+ years in the MENA region. Through the Saudi German Hospitals Group, it owns and operates eleven hospitals across Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen and Egypt.

The healthcare facilities under Humania will be operated under the Saudi German brand and provide the same high-quality service.

“We are very confident cooperating with the Saudi German Hospitals Group, because they have demonstrated their ability to provide high-quality service, patient security and good staff ethics, which is imperative for us to invest,” commented Krogsgaard, CIO.

The investment in Humania is supporting SDG 3, in particular target 3.8: by increasing access to quality essential healthcare services, and target 3.c: by increasing health financing and the recruitment, development, training and retention of the health workforce in developing countries.

The Danish SDG Investment Fund is a public-private partnership, which will contribute to fulfilling the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through private sector investments.

The fund offers advice and risk capital for projects supporting the development in strategic sectors in developing countries.

This includes climate, agribusiness and food, the financial sector, water as well as production and infrastructure.