An Austrian company proposed to arrange soft finances for much-cherished modernisation of public hospitals in Bangladesh.
Officials said the Vienna-based company, ODELGA MED, which mainly supplies to the Austrian market everyday commodities in the medical sphere, submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Health recently in this regard.
"…we as an Austrian exporter can participate in the realisation of the medical projects in Bangladesh utilising this Austrian soft loan," its managing director Peter Haag wrote in the letter forwarding the proposal.
The government of Austria made soft loans available for Bangladesh in December 2015.
Typically, an Austrian soft loan has a maturity of 24-29 years for least developed countries with a grace period of 6.5 to 10 years and carries zero-percent interest and a component of grants of up to 50 per cent.
A senior health ministry official told the FE Monday that in Bangladesh's health sector there are soft loans from various countries and development agencies. Many development projects have been completed with soft loans.
Acknowledging having received the proposal from ODELGA MED, the official said the economic relations division (ERD) has been requested to complete the procedures for the soft loan since it will be helpful in development of public-sector hospitals in the country.
"After ERD completes the necessary procedure the two sides can sit for negotiation to receive soft loan from Austria," she said.
ODELGA MED is a company having presence in the market for over 140 years. It has both domestic and an international business unit. It has designed, supplied and erected many turn-key facilities all over the world.
The firm has completed 21 medical projects in China, seven projects in Romania, four projects in Vietnam, one each in Cameroon, Senegal and many other countries.
According to its proposal it supplies world-class medical equipment for hospitals, installs and fixes all medical equipment, wants to provide practical training in Bangladesh and in Austria for doctors and technical staffs, and a full guarantee for all supplied machines and equipment for certain period.
For each project, ODELGA MED said, it can arrange a sum of five million euros.
Another senior health ministry official said since the Austrian soft loan bears zero interest and 50 per cent grants, it is comparatively better than any other available soft loans.
"The Austrian soft loan is very much suitable for Bangladesh, and if necessary, we can negotiate further facilities once we decide to take credits from there," he said.
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