Ethio Lease, Ethiopia’s first foreign-owned equipment leasing company, has donated state-of-the-art CT scanners to Alayton Hospital in Hawassa. The donation was made as part of the company’s initiative to provide diagnostic equipment to improve the healthcare sector.
According to reports from the Ministry of Health and other private entities involved in the healthcare sector, Ethiopia faces a shortage of medical imaging technology that is vital for a lot of medical functions and processes. In order to address this shortage Ethio Lease intends on providing high-tech medical imaging equipment to healthcare providers across the country.
The donation to Alayton was the first in long line of planned donations. The donations come with full-service warranty which includes spare parts and maintenance.
According to Dr. Lia Tadesse, the Minister for Health, the private sector can play a significant role in addressing the various struggles that Ethiopia’s medical sector faces, especially equipment shortages that are caused by a lack of capital and foreign currency related hurdles.
Ethio Lease CEO Girum Tsegaye echoed the same sentiments and noted that it is up to companies like his to attempt to address the various issues in the healthcare sector made even more apparent by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethio Lease, a subsidiary of Africa Asset Finance Company Inc. (AAFC), began operations in August 2019 after receiving its license from the National Bank of Ethiopia. The company aims to to address the equipment shortage and foreign exchange challenges that most of Ethiopia’s economic and social sectors face.