By Chiamaka Ozulumba
With the goal of improving the Nigerian Healthcare System, Carna Health Investments Limited (Carna), a Nigerian healthcare investment vehicle created by Cedar Advisory Partners Limited (“Cedar”), has revealed that it is providing long-term equity funding and enabling the growth of facilities/institutions with high-growth potential across the Nigerian healthcare value chain.
In a disclosure made by the company’s Managing Director, Afolabi Adetola, he shared that the investments cuts across all strata of the health sector, even while the company is currently renovating and upscaling Betta Hospital, Orile – Agege Lagos.
The statement read: “At Carna, we are building the most efficient, standard and affordable healthcare ecosystem in Nigeria. Within the last 10 years, we had advised major hospitals and healthcare operators in Nigeria in various capacities through our parent company, Cedar.
“As advisers, operators, and users of healthcare in Nigeria, we understand first-hand the challenges with maintaining an efficient healthcare space and are driven by the need for increased capacity for the delivery of quality healthcare in Nigeria as well as the opportunities within the industry and its practice.
“So, we morphed into a healthcare investing platform. Given that we acknowledge that the issues are multi-faceted, our approach is also multi-faceted.
“We, therefore, set out to provide long-term equity funding and enable the growth of facilities/institutions with high-growth potential across the healthcare value chain including but not limited to primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals, diagnostic and clinical laboratories, health insurance firms, and pharmacies.
“We understand that investing in healthcare in Nigeria is a long-term business and requires patient capital. While we acknowledge the role of the government and public funding, the private investor who will drive efficiency and global best practices over the foreseeable future can unlock immense opportunities.
“Our approach is centered on ecosystem-building to enable resource-sharing, standardization and cost-efficiency. We have made investments in laboratory and imaging diagnostic, health insurance firm and health management firms.
“Within our general practice vertical, we are building the largest ecosystem of hospitals providing quality primary and secondary healthcare through model practices with the goal of achieving greater efficiency and improving patient experience. All hospitals and facilities managed within the Carna network will guarantee a standard level of care across all our locations in Nigeria.
“A core part of our strategy is the management of a network of hospitals and day clinics. With this model, human and material resources including doctors, nurses, medical and non-medical practitioners, technology and systems, clinical and non-clinical administration can be centralized and accessed by all facilities within the network.
“Our day clinics under the brand name, CarnaMed, are 12-hour outpatient facilities with the mandate to offer quick, affordable and quality primary healthcare services to lower middle-income and middle-income segments of the population in mostly densely populated areas.
“Its primary services include general consultation, vaccination, urgent care, family planning, and other health packages while fitted with laboratories and pharmacies. In select locations, CarnaMed clinics will also offer dentistry, optometry and dermatology services.
“The hospitals we are interested in are purpose-built practices in urban areas with a certain bed capacity. Our current investments include a leading laboratory and imaging diagnostic, a national health insurance firm and a health management firm.
“We are counting down to the launch of our flagship CarnaMed clinic, sited in a strategic location, which will happen within the next two months.
“Most recently, we took up Betta Hospital, a potential 50-bed capacity healthcare facility located at Orile Agege, Lagos State, Nigeria. The hospital is a legacy hospital which was founded about 40 years ago.
“The hospital’s services include primary and secondary care, obstetrics and gynaecology, antenatal and postnatal care, diagnostics and wellness checks, emergency care, surgeries, paediatrics, and other specialist care services round the clock.
“The facilities in the hospital include a standard theatre, a well-equipped laboratory, pharmacy, standardised wards, delivery, consulting and emergency rooms, and other required facilities.
“We have ensured that Betta Hospital is run by a competent and compassionate medical team of well-trained and skilled medical doctors, nurses, residents, pharmacy technologists and other healthcare professionals.
“Since we began managing Betta Hospital, we have renovated the facility, implemented a number of operational improvements and are instituting standard operating procedures to enable quality assurance and clinical audit.”
Picture: Afolabi Adetola
MD, Cedar
