Bringing Lifesaving Technology to Hospitals in Ethiopia

By Daphna Berman. Photos by Abate Damte

By late morning, the emergency department at Addis Ababa’s AaBET Hospital was overflowing.

Trauma patients on stretchers, families crowding hallways and doctors moving quickly from bed to bed.

Many of the most serious cases—from car accidents to gunshot wounds—had one thing in common: they required urgent computed tomography (CT) scans.

“Computed Tomography imaging determines nearly every treatment decision we make,” said Dr. Tsegay Gebreanenia Hagos, the Chief Executive Officer of AaBET Hospital, as the Addis Ababa Burn, Emergency & Trauma Hospital is known.

“Without imaging, doctors are often forced to make complicated decisions without complete information— going into surgery blind.”

Dr. Tsegay, a longtime emergency room doctor, has worked at hospitals where machines lay unused for a year or two, while staff awaited spare parts or a technician who could fix them.  

At AaBET, that’s not the case.

The hospital—the country’s only public specialized trauma hospital— sources its imaging equipment from Infinity Advanced Technology Solutions, a client of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Ethiopia’s leading distributor and service provider of medical equipment. 

“As a public hospital, we need to provide high-quality, affordable health care day and night and without interruptions,” he added, during a rare break. “And we get that from Infinity.”

Keeping the Machines Running

While Infinity imports advanced equipment from companies like GE, hospital officials say its maintenance services are just as important.

The company estimates that roughly 30 percent of Ethiopia’s advanced imaging equipment is out of service, often because hospitals lack repair capacity.

At AaBET, however, Infinity engineer Ambaye Abbo visits so often that staff joke he’s practically part of the team.

Ambaye Abbo, a senior engineer at Infinity, provides regular maintenance to help ensure medical equipment is working when it’s needed most.

Financing Healthcare Under Constraint

Automated blood-processing equipment supplied by Infinity has helped the Ethiopian Blood and Tissue Bank Service cut processing times from 48 hours to just 30 minutes while expanding capacity.

Health systems are the foundation of productive, resilient societies.

They also create well-paid jobs across healthcare, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, logistics, and related services.

That’s why the World Bank Group aims to help 1.5 billion people access quality, affordable healthcare by 2030, with the private sector playing a critical role.

In 2022, the International Finance Corporation, with support from the International Development Association (IDA) Private Sector Window (IDA PSW), provided a US$3 million equivalent loan in Ethiopian birr (ETB) to Infinity.

The financing offered long-term working capital, enabling the company to fulfill orders for much-needed medical equipment.

The investment, part of IFC’s Global Health Platform (GHP), helped Infinity continue supplying equipment ranging from automated blood-processing systems to advanced stroke-treatment technology.

The investment came at a critical time: Ethiopia was facing a severe foreign exchange shortage, forcing companies to wait months—and sometimes more than a year—to access foreign currency needed for imports.

The concessional cross-currency swap supported by IDA PSW Local Currency Facility enabled IFC to structure the financing in local currency, allowing Infinity to purchase equipment in U.S. dollars while receiving payments and repaying its loan in birr—an option not available from other financiers in the market.

“With more hospitals being built and more physicians being trained to provide services, the demand for medical equipment in Ethiopia has gone up,” said Brook Fekadu, the founder and the CEO of Infinity.

“At the same time, foreign exchange constraints have made it harder to import critical medical technologies, making IFC’s support especially important.”

Supporting Ethiopia’s Health System

A technician operates a Single‑photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with computed tomography (CT) scanner provided by Infinity, which combines advanced imaging technologies to help doctors diagnose and monitor a range of medical conditions.

The company’s work comes amid growing pressure on healthcare systems across Ethiopia, a low-income IDA country affected by fragility and conflict.

Infinity plays a critical role in helping hospitals access and maintain essential medical technologies. The company, which employs 130 people, also trains technicians and hospital staff—what Fekadu calls “a total solution.”

The Cathlab, an advanced imaging system used for stroke intervention, allows doctors to remove blood clots and treat stroke patients.

By developing local technical expertise and service capacity, Infinity is helping build the infrastructure needed to support modern healthcare across Ethiopia.

“IFC’s partnership with Infinity is helping build the private sector capacity needed to deliver, maintain, and scale essential medical technologies across the country—strengthening the foundations of Ethiopia’s health system for the long term,” said Madalo Minofu, IFC’s country manager for Ethiopia.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s investment is part of a broader World Bank Group effort to strengthen Ethiopia’s health system so that patients can access timely, reliable care when they need it most.

This includes support for Ethiopia-Mama, a digitally enabled emergency transport system that helps connect patients to care more quickly, particularly in maternal, neonatal, and trauma emergencies.

From Blood Banks to Stroke Care

With improved equipment supplied by Infinity, the Ethiopian Blood and Tissue Bank Service can now meet about 80 percent of demand.

In addition to the trauma hospital, Infinity provides equipment to a range of health care facilities— from the Ethiopian Blood and Tissue Bank Service, to an advanced nuclear imaging center in downtown Addis— all purchased in local currency and often on credit.

At Salale University Hospital, nearly three hours north of Addis, hospital officials say improved diagnostic equipment has helped expand access to care outside major urban centers.

At the Ethiopian Blood and Tissue Bank Service, which serves roughly 750 hospitals nationwide, automated blood-processing equipment has reduced processing times from 48 hours to just 30 minutes while significantly expanding capacity.

 “With the better equipment from Infinity, we can satisfy about 80 percent of demand,” said Dr. Ashenafi Tazebew Amare, director general of the blood service.

Infinity also helped bring Ethiopia’s first biplane Cathlab—an advanced imaging system used for stroke intervention—to Axon Neurology Specialty Center, the country’s first dedicated stroke center.

Purchased on credit with support from the IFC-backed financing, the technology allows doctors to remove blood clots and treat stroke patients. 

“Before this technology arrived in Ethiopia, patients would come into the hospital and there was nothing we could do beyond treating the damage,” said Dr. Hilina Agonafir Mengistu, Clinical Operations Manager at Axon.

“Now we can actually intervene — and save lives.”