private sector healthcare

Patients living in poverty in the Global South are being bankrupted by private healthcare corporations backed by multi-million-dollar investments from development finance institutions (DFIs) run by the UK, French, German and other rich country governments. DFIs like the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) invest public funds via the private sector to help foster economic development in the Global South and tackle poverty. However, Oxfam published two investigations on DFI funding into private hospital chains and other for-profit healthcare corporations operating in low- and middle-income countries and found cases of them.   

A new privately-run hospital supported by the World Bank’s private sector arm, the IFC, is threatening to bankrupt the health budget of Lesotho, one of the poorest and least-healthy countries in the world.

New evidence revealed by Oxfam shows that women in India are being exploited and facing serious health problems, due to under-investment in healthcare by the Indian government and the proliferation of private for-profit clinics.