SAEDF Portfolio Company Spotlight: Eerste River Medical Centre
In 1999, the hospitals in the Western Cape of South Africa were facing severe overcrowding. Eerste River Medical Centre (ERMC), a SAEDF portfolio company, was there to help. With 60 available beds, the medical center helps alleviate overcrowding in the other local hospitals. This venture was designed to suit the medical needs of citizens who, unable to pay high medical fees, otherwise went without care. Located in a working class suburb in the Western Cape of South Africa, the ERMC offers secondary care in general medicine and surgery; obstetrics and gynecology; and pediatrics. In addition, ERMC employed 80 local community members at its peak.
SAEDF’s investment in this hospital resulted in an additional breakthrough – business ownership representative of the larger community’s demographic. Whereas the majority of private hospitals in South Africa are owned and operated by the white population, the ERMC is the first private hospital in this region that is owned by black citizens.
ERMC has successfully repaid its investment from SAEDF and has begun private operations – a clear sign of the project’s success and long-term sustainability. And as a result, the Eerste River Medical Centre was able to begin construction in 2009 on a new wing.
