(ICIJ) – A surge in private equity funding for hospitals left a trail of crushing debts, patient detentions and broken promises.

In over 70 interviews, former and current doctors, nurses and executives from [International Finance Corp]-backed facilities in Kenya and Uganda and from the private equity firms managing them described how pressures to improve returns for investors contributed to increased treatment costs and reduced accessibility. This saddled some patients with crushing debt and diverted resources originally intended to help the poor toward making medical facilities more profitable. These accounts are supported by court records, internal corporate communications and documents, and patient records reviewed by ICIJ.

To collect unpaid bills, some of the hospitals unlawfully detained patients up to months at a time, ICIJ found. Some of these incidents were widely reported in the media and were the subject of high-profile court cases and government inquiries. But the IFC failed to prevent problematic practices from continuing at hospitals it helped finance. And the organization has continued backing private hospitals even as it has remained unclear whether the investments increase accessibility or affordability for the poor in any meaningful way. (Read More)