September 27 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Enterprise Expansion Fund (ENEF) are providing a 3 million euro ($3.3 million) loan to support the expansion of Serbian private healthcare provider Bel Medic, the EBRD said.
The funds will be used to finance the purchase of equipment for Bel Medic’s newly built hospital wing in Belgrade and to support the future growth and development of the hospital, the EBRD said in a statement on Thursday.
This is the first joint investment by the EBRD and ENEF in the Serbian private healthcare sector aiming to further boost its development, the bank said.
"This investment will support Bel Medic to develop an offer of new value-added services. We are pleased that we can support the development and modernisation of Serbian hospitals for the benefit of the citizens," EBRD Regional Director for the Western Balkans Zsuzsanna Hargitai said in the statement.
The ENEF is a 48.5 million euro fund supporting established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high-growth potential in the Western Balkans. The EBRD is also an investor in the fund, together with the European Investment Fund (EIF), the European Union, the German Development Bank (DEG), the Development Bank of Austria and Italy.
Bel Medic General Hospital is the first private hospital in Serbia, established in 1995 as a polyclinic and in 2004 was registered as a general hospital, offering a comprehensive set of medical care in several locations in Belgrade, with about 390 permanent employees and nearly 400 consultant doctors and experts in all medical specialties.
($ = 0.915808 euro)