Increasing Access to Healthcare

South Africa’s healthcare sector mirrors the deep inequalities prevalent in the country. The private healthcare sector mostly financed through medical aid schemes, is well resourced yet covers only 16% of the population. By contrast, the public healthcare sector is overcrowded, under-resourced and is struggling to provide healthcare services for 84% of the country’s population. South Africa’s significant health challenges, shortage of healthcare specialists and ageing infrastructure is putting strain on the public healthcare sector. Meanwhile, private healthcare remains expensive and largely unaffordable, limiting access to quality care for the majority of South Africans. The disparity in access to good healthcare between South Africa’s public and private sectors provides significant opportunities for innovative reforms which will increase access to affordable and quality healthcare to wider sections of the population.

To address the above challenges, the DBSA provided funding to a portfolio of hospital projects developed by Razorite Hospital Managers. Estcourt Hospital Project is the second hospitals to be developed under the Razorite Hospital Programme. The project has reached Financial Close and is in implementation stage.

The Razorite Hospital Programme comprised the development of a portfolio of General Level 2 private hospitals to address the growing need for affordable quality healthcare infrastructure within low to middle income areas in South Africa. The programme is to empower and assist independent hospital license holders to unlock capital and management resources in order to develop and operate independent private hospitals. The hospitals in the programme targeted medically insured people who currently either must travel longer distances to access private hospitals or who live in areas with limited availability of private healthcare facilities.

The project involves the development, design, financing, construction and operation of a 75-bed hospital located in Escourt. The hospital will provide general and specialist services, such as surgery, maternity and paediatrics, doctors consulting wings as well as casualty, radiology and pathology services.

The Project Preparation Facility was signed in 2019 to support the development of hospitals, including Estcourt Hospital. The Project reached financial close in November 2023 and broke ground shortly after.
 

Challenges 

Some of the key challenges faced relate to risks identified by the lender’s advisors, which include but not limited to: 

• Conclusion of construction contract, medical equipment supply contract, commissioning contract and hospital operating contract.
• Finalising organisational structure and staffing arrangements including letters of intent from key doctors and specialists.