- Friday, February 28, 2025
The report has said that private hospitals in these countries, which are accused of refusing vital healthcare to people from low income groups or holding them hostage until clearance of bills, benefit from investment funds of the UK government.
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN a sensational revelation, a report by Oxfam has said that private hospitals in countries such as India and Kenya, which are accused of refusing vital healthcare to people from low income groups or holding them hostage until clearance of bills, benefit from investment funds of the UK government worth hundreds of millions of pounds, The Guardian reported.
According to the development charity, the investments by government-backed agencies are used to aid the “impoverishment and even the imprisonment of the very people [the private hospitals] are supposed to be helping”.
It also said that a series of incidents, some of which have even left patients engulfed in big debts, shows the policy of investing in private healthcare is faulty and should be stopped by London.
The Sick Development report by Oxfam has a critical take on millions of funds that are taken from the UK’s aid budget and invested into foreign businesses and programmes in poor nations via British International Investment — owned and managed by the foreign, Commonwealth and development office.
The report saw that the government of the UK was one of many, including those of Germany and France, and international organisations such as the World Bank that supported investments by agencies, wholly or partly owned by the state, into private healthcare groups that themselves are owned by big US private equity groups, the Guardian report added.
According to Oxfam, investments by these agencies into private healthcare providers in low and middle-income nations should be redirected into strengthening the public health systems “to help those living in poverty to access healthcare”.
It also said that many of the countries getting development money for healthcare had turned into “go-to destinations for health tourists”.
In India, BII-funded private hospitals were accused of denying people treatment despite them having government health insurance cards that allow them to avail free care.
The report also found several cases of patients being allegedly imprisoned until they cleared medical fees, from a hospital chain in Kenya funded by BII.
