News Release: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust And African Export-Import Bank Sign MOU

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, UK has today (Tuesday, 29 July) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

The MOU between King’s and Afreximbank is designed to enhance the health and well-being of people in Africa by improving healthcare infrastructure on the continent.

King’s is a centre of excellence for the treatment of blood cancers and haematological medicine, and the initial focus will be on developing a like-for-like facility in West Africa.

Longer-term, King’s and Afreximbank will look at other opportunities in Africa to improve healthcare infrastructure. This will involve studying the healthcare needs of different populations in Africa, and how these can be addressed. 

 

Afreximbank’s collaboration with King’s is part of its Health and Medical Tourism Development Programme, which is supporting the development of world-class health facilities in Africa to meet the growing health care needs of Africans with a view to enhancing service exports, promoting employment and conserving Africa’s foreign exchange.

"At King's, we are proud to have an international reputation for high quality, specialist clinical services” said Professor Ghulam Mufti, Professor of Haemato-oncology at King’s and a Non-Executive Director at the Trust. “Our work with Afreximbank is an important step forward for King's, and part of a wider initiative to expand our work overseas for the benefit of patients."

"Today's signing marks a crucial first step in bringing first class health services closer to people across Africa," added Jean-Louis Ekra, President of Afreximbank. "We are confident that this collaboration will lead to a significant reduction in the need for Africans to travel outside the continent in search of the highest quality healthcare and will greatly reduce the resources expended by Africans on foreign medical tourism."

King’s College Hospital is one of the Europe’s leading hospitals, treating over one million patients every year. King’s has a unique portfolio of local and specialist services, including haematological medicine, liver disease, neurosurgery, cardiovascular disease and fetal medicine.

The African Export-Import Bank is the foremost Pan-African multilateral institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. Established in 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors, Afreximbank is headquartered in Cairo. Since 1994, the Bank has approved almost $30 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including about $3.5 billion in 2013.

Obi Emekekwue

Afreximbank External Communications