Health
EIB loans for health in the European Union help to improve the social and urban environment, and contribute to sustainable communities. This is one of the Bank's key lending priorities. Through the investments they support, the Bank helps its borrowers to provide state of the art health care in projects that often contribute to the local economy and to urban (or rural) revitalisation.
Health projects financed by the EIB cover a wide range of investment, including:
- construction, expansion and refurbishment of clinics and hospitals
- provision of equipment including laboratory equipment and medical scanners
- information and communications technology such as e-health, digital imaging and electronic patient record or clinical decision support systems in hospitals
- medical research centres
All health projects must fit within the healthcare delivery strategy of the country or region in which they are based. Most of the investment in the health sector financed by the EIB is carried out by public authorities in EU-15 countries, although the private sector may also play a role in project implementation and health care delivery.
Nonetheless, loans to projects in the new Member States, in candidate and potential candidate countries and in Mediterranean countries are on the increase. In these parts of the world, the EIB can offer substantial assistance to the promoters in terms of design and implementation of the project in addition to attractive finance.
Between 1997, when the EIB started financing investment in health, and the end of 2010, loans worth EUR 17.5bn went to some 130 projects in the European Union. Outside the EU, the Bank lent close to EUR 610m over the same period.
