Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a Rs 100 crore debt financing agreement with Global Health Private Ltd (Medanta) to provide essential health care services and medical equipment to help combat the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

The project will support the purchase of personal protective equipment, basic hygiene products and patient care equipment like ventilators and beds. It will also support staff training programmes on infection prevention and control. "Private sector health care services play a life-saving role during health crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic," said Aniruddha Patil, Head of health and education investments at ADB's private sector operations department.

"Medanta's proven expertise and leadership will further improve the resilience of India's health system, enabling it to respond effectively to the current crisis and future health care challenges."

Dr Naresh Trehan, Global Health's Chairman and Managing Director, said the financing will help focus on increasing health care capacity to satisfy the strong Indian demand for both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 related treatment.

This debt financing is part of a 20 billion dollar assistance package announced by ADB in April 2020 to help its developing members manage the pandemic.

The funding complements ADB's sovereign support to India, including a 1.5 billion dollar loan approved in April 2020 for Covid-19 disease containment and prevention, and social protection for poor and economically vulnerable communities like women.

Global Health Private Ltd operates and manages hospitals across India under the Medanta brand with a total operational capacity of about 2,000 beds.

It has four Medanta multi-super-specialty hospitals in Gurugram, Lucknow, Indore and Ranchi with out-patient services in Patna, which started in 2020, and three clinics at Delhi Airport, South Delhi and DLF Cybercity.

Its flagship hospital Medanta -- The Medicity Gurugram has over 1,300 beds, including 246 critical care beds.