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Rwanda: Country to Tap From General Electric Money
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Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
1 July 2008
Posted to the web 1 July 2008
Kigali
U.S. giant General Electric or GE is to expand its health care initiative covering several countries through which it is to inject $10 million - with Rwanda taking some portion, RNA reports.
GE has committed the $10 million to work on health care in Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda, Fortune Magazine reported on Tuesday.
In Latin America, the cash injection will start with Honduras and eventually Indonesia and Cambodia - in Asia. The program will be part of GE's 'Developing Health Globally' project - which has expanded in its size and scope.
Through previous engagements, GE has provided equipment and expertise to public hospitals and clinics in Africa worthy $20 million.
About 21 hospitals have been upgraded so far, with another 32 hospitals and clinics scheduled to be improved by the end of the year in all these countries.
"GE focuses its health-care efforts in countries that are politically stable, transparent, (i.e., as free of corruption as possible), committed to improving health care and willing to invest their own money", writes Fortune senior reporter Mr. Marc Gunther.
While GE was launching a health care project in Rwanda, Fortune reports that President Paul Kagame asked to meet with Mr. Bob Corcoran - because the country wants to exploit methane gas under Like Kivu, on the border with the DR Congo.
Mr. Corcoran is the GE's vice president for corporate citizenship and President of the GE Foundation which has been making all these philanthropic undertakings.
In July 2007, GE through Assist International donated medical equipment to Nyamata Hospital in South eastern Rwanda.
The senior official apparently arranged for President Kagame to meet Mr. John Rice, a GE vice chairman in charge of infrastructure, and the company is now on the verge of selling its equipment to Rwanda.
Many GE projects are unfolding alongside the Millennium Villages development work led by the UN and the Earth Institute at Columbia University (that's the group led by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs). GE measures its impact, of course. In Ghana, for instance, hospital births and equipment usage have increased, a sign that people have more trust in the health care system.
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Before donating, say, x-ray or ultrasound machines, Mr. Corcoran told Fortune that GE needs to know: "Can they operate it, maintain it, own it and use it over time to treat people?"
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