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When one of the world’s biggest private-equity firms took over a number of hospitals and clinics in Africa and Asia in 2019, it told investors like the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and Bono that it was intent on broadening access to high-quality health care.

But a Bloomberg investigation has called into question whether the investments by US-based TPG can simultaneously have a positive social impact and make money.

We also reported on a strategy adopted by development banks and philanthropists to lean on for-profit companies to achieve developmental goals.

The Deep Sea neighborhood near TPG’s Avenue Healthcare Parklands hospital in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Photographer: Eduardo Soteras/Bloomberg 

Whistleblowers allege that TPG pressured staff to perform unnecessary procedures to bolster income and falsify financial reports, and that some of those who raised concerns were ignored, intimidated or fired.

Doctors said their compensation was tied to meeting aggressive revenue targets, with records from one TPG hospital in Kenya showing some were asked to refer eight of every 10 patients to the radiology department, laboratory or pharmacy.

In one instance, an invoice showed a patient being billed $500 for 82 masks on a single day, and for tests that outside doctors said were unrelated to her symptoms. 

Doctors at another TPG facility in Pakistan sometimes performed 17 cardiology procedures daily, each of which can take 30 minutes or more, leaving insufficient time to sanitize properly. Errors and infections have become more commonplace as a result, placing patients at risk, staff said.

Yemi Lalude, a partner who oversees TPG’s Rise Fund investments in Africa and the Middle East, said any suggestion that the firm “prioritizes profits over patients is incorrect and ignores the extensive clinical governance and patient’s rights policies we’ve instituted.”

Poverty experts say they’ve uncovered little evidence that funding for-profit providers helps those with the lowest incomes.

“Privatization in health care does work well for the elite, and it works even better for the providers and governments,” said Philip Alston, a former United Nations rapporteur on extreme poverty and now a law professor at New York University. “But it is a seriously losing proposition for most of the middle classes, and always for the poor.’’ — Simon Marks and Kendall Taggart

Key stories and opinion:
TPG Push Into African Hospitals Raised Whistleblower Complaints 
Takeaways From Bloomberg Investigation of Hospitals Owned by TPG
Patients Detained, Denied Care at Hospitals Funded by World Bank 
World Bank Reviews Health Holdings Amid Patient Detention Claims 
UN Official at Davos Slams World Bank-Funded Private Hospitals 

Click here to listen to Bloomberg reporters discuss the challenges facing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa — from political instability and tariffs, to Donald Trump.

South Africa’s ministry for women cautioned citizens against accepting offers of jobs in Russia being promoted on social media. The warning comes after Bloomberg reported that firms from Russia, including one that’s been accused of tricking young women into working in a military drone-assembly plant, were recruiting staff in the southern African nation. “We urge our young people to be vigilant,’’ the Ministry in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities said.

WATCH: Bloomberg TV reports on the campaign to recruit African women to work in Russia. 

Nigeria is set to increase the proportion of funds that its $17 billion pension industry can invest in infrastructure and private equity to help boost returns on retirement savings. The regulator is in the final stages of reviewing limits on the various investment classes, said spokesman Ibrahim Buwai. A requirement that pension-fund administrators can only invest in infrastructure funds that devote at least 60% of their portfolio to projects domiciled in Nigeria will be adjusted, he said.

Bushmeat has long been part of Nigerian culinary culture, but it’s largely been consumed in rural areas. Lately, though, demand has been rising in cities, with everyone from street vendors to professionals seeking it out for its flavor or perceived nutritional value. More than two-fifths of urban Nigerians say they’ve eaten bushmeat in the past year, almost double the number in 2018, a study by the country’s Wildlife Conservation Society found. Doctors say the trend poses a critical public-health threat. 

Justina Sunday grills bushmeat at her food stand in Ushafa, Nigeria. Photographer: Etinosa Yvonne/Bloomberg Businessweek

Burkina Faso suspended a Gates Foundation-funded research program aimed at stopping the spread of malaria, one of the biggest killers in Africa, after the initiative drew criticism from anti-Western activists. Target Malaria, whose researchers are working to create a species of mosquito that won’t transmit the disease, was ordered to halt activities in the West African nation, said Samuel Pare, an official at the higher education and research ministry. The program released its first swarm of genetically modified male mosquitoes in 2019 in Bana, a village in western Burkina Faso.

A US court sentenced a former Gambian army captain who served under ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh to 67 years in prison for torturing people accused of involvement in a failed coup. A Colorado jury in April convicted Michael Correa, a member of a unit that targeted Jammeh’s opponents, for brutalizing five people. Correa’s lawyers argued that he was a low-ranking soldier who obeyed orders.

Yahya Jammeh at the UN General Assembly in 2013. Photographer: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

First Quantum Minerals shelved a plan to sell minority stakes in its Zambian copper mines, after a $1 billion gold-streaming deal eased pressure on its balance sheet. Early last year, the company said it was considering offloading minority interests in its Kansanshi and Sentinel operations in Zambia, after it was forced to shut a mine in Panama. First Quantum’s deal to sell part of Kansanshi’s gold output to Royal Gold meant it no longer needed to divest, CEO Tristan Pascall said in an interview.

Thank you for your responses to our weekly Next Africa Quiz and congratulations to Jacques Nel who was first to identify Angola as the African nation whose oil production fell below 1 million barrels a day for the first time since it left OPEC because quotas restricted its output.

African nations are ordering more solar panels from China, with imports of the clean-energy technology surging 60% in the 12 months through June, according to climate think tank Ember. While South Africa remained the biggest importer, 20 other countries on the continent posted record purchases over the period. Total shipments jumped to 15 gigawatts of generating capacity.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back in your inbox with the next edition on Friday. Send any feedback to mcohen21@bloomberg.net