Grameen
Healthcare Trust and GE Healthcare announces partnership to explore social business healthcare delivery models for Bangladesh
and other countries of the developing world
Partnership Supports Social Business Models To Help Address Health Needs Of
4 Billion People Around the World Who Live on Less Than a US$ 3 a day
Dhaka December
22, 2008 --
Grameen Healthcare Trust, a sister company of Grameen Bank , the pioneering micro-financing organization in Bangladesh
that shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for its work to alleviate poverty and GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric
Company (NYSE: GE), today announced that they will work together to develop prototype of social businesses for
healthcare delivery in Bangladesh, to be replicated in other countries of the developing world.
The partners will jointly evaluate ways
to improve Grameen Healthcare Trust's existing healthcare delivery systems and primary care clinics in rural Bangladesh.
At the end of an initial period, they will try to see if these social business model can be replicated in other countries,
addressing the needs of the 4 billion people around the world whose income is less than US$ 3 a day.
During the
next year, the partnership will focus on the following areas:
· Primary health
promotion and disease prevention, the most cost effective steps in affordable health care
·
Evaluate product, training, workflow, and other capabilities that would be needed for full deployment of ultrasound capability
in rural areas
· Developing continuous training programs for nurses, technicians
and physicians in the usage of ultrasound
· Reviewing operating efficiencies and
scope of services (e.g., telemedicine, mobile health care) at Grameen's rural clinics.
GE Healthcare, an arm of US-based General Electric, plans to revolutionise rural health services in countries like India and Bangladesh
"the same way as cellphones did", a senior company executive said today..
"GE wanted to enter into rural
healthcare in a big way and revolutionise in the same way as cell phones did. We have embarked on several programmes in Bangladesh
and India especially on maternal care," he said at the 94th Radiological Society of North America (RSNA-2008) which ended
here today.
In Bangladesh, the GEHC is also taking help of microfinancing programme of Nobel laureate Mohammad
Yunus and his Grameen Bank. "If we succeed in the maternal care in Grameen health programme, we can translate that to
cardiac care and other ailments," he said.
Health experts from across the world opined at the conference
that investing in education and empowering rural population with information about healthcare
Rich Bagger (SVP, Worldwide Public Affairs & Policy, Pfizer) was the only speaker to consistently refer to his company as being in
the “life sciences” business. Why is this so hard for everyone else to remember ? One of Rich’s themes was
“new roads to access.” And he offered a very early yet tantalizing example – Pfizer’s partnership
with the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh (yes – the one run by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus). Pfizer and Grameen are developing
a “micro health insurance model” along the lines of Grameen’s well-known micro-credit programs. According
to Bagger, a policy might cost $20/month of which $3 would go towards pharmaceutical coverage
