Bloomberg reaction: Continued lack of accountability at the IFC putting patients and hospital staff at risk

Reacting to the Bloomberg expose published on Friday 30th January, Linda Oduor-Noah, Health Policy Lead at Oxfam International and IFI Policy Adviser said:

“Oxfam continues to be alarmed but not surprised by the mounting evidence of negligence within the IFC’s health portfolio, further confirming that the IFC's approach to investing in healthcare is fundamentally broken. Not only have they disregarded or overlooked well-documented human rights violations, but are now also linked to medical equipment fraud in under-regulated markets.

We have repeatedly impressed on the WB Board to act, calling for: a compliance investigation, a rigorous independent evaluation and immediate remedy for those harmed. These calls seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The Banks default response - that they have improved due diligence processes and supervision - rings hollow without transparency or true accountability. We await the findings of the IFC’s recent internal health portfolio review and hope that this will lead to the necessary action.”

Dan Owalla from the Peoples Health Movement (Kenya) said: “This profit driven model in healthcare is doing more harm than good, and costing Kenyan patients their health, dignity, and livelihoods.  The Bloomberg report shines a necessary spotlight on some of the systemic failures we are battling as a country around supply chains and controversial medical equipment schemes, now from the private sector perspective. IFCs lack of oversight, failure to demonstrate accountability, and refusal to provide remedy will likely cost even more lives if no decisive action is taken. 

One thing is clear; we reject any approach that trades patient safety for private profit and the IFC must demonstrate how this approach will reach the 1.5 billion people who most urgently need access to quality healthcare."