News

The Russian Children's Clinical Hospital (RCCH) in Moscow is buying critically needed medical equipment from Ohio Medical Instrument Co., Inc. (OMI), Cincinnati, OH, and numerous other U.S. suppliers with the help of a $44.1 million loan guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank). The Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed financing covers 85% of the $41.7 million contract price plus some local costs for site clearance and management and other project-related activities. Approximately one fourth of the equipment to be exported comes from U.S. small business suppliers.

RCCH, an entity of Russia's Ministry of Health, is one of the largest specialized hospitals in Russia with a capacity of 1,023 beds. It includes 32 specialized departments with many pediatric disciplines including cardiology, cardiosurgery and neonatology. Annually 15,000 children from all Russian provinces are treated at the hospital.

I am particularly delighted to support a transaction which will directly benefit Russian children while sustaining jobs at U.S. businesses large and small, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman John E. Robson. This is a situation where everybody wins.

It is a heart wrenching affair to go into this hospital and see the conditions under which the children are nursed and the dramatic need for medical equipment, said James L. Day, president and CEO of OMI, a 150-employee firm which uses about 200 independent distributors worldwide. As part of the international community that has the capability to assist with this situation, we really need to do what we can.

OMI's equipment exports for the Russian hospital include a magnetic resonance imaging system, angiography equipment, CT scanner, ultrasound and electrocardiograph equipment, monitoring systems, kidney dialysis machinery, anesthesia, and operating room modules. The equipment comes from U.S. suppliers in at least 10 states, including California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. The borrower and primary source of repayment is Vnesheconombank, conveying the full faith and credit of the Government of the Russian Federation, under Ex-Im Bank's framework agreement with the Russian government. The guaranteed lender is Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, New York, NY.

Day said Ex-Im Bank was critical in allowing the project to move forward, opening up a new market for Ohio Medical Instruments and paving the way for follow-on business: I don't think we would have got the financing without Ex-Im Bank's guarantee. In most foreign markets, customers make acquisitions as needed and we work through distributors. Russia, on the other hand, is doing major project developments in the medical community. Eventually they will get on an equal footing with the rest of the medical community and will acquire medical equipment as needed, and we will be able to go in and sell products in the open market.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance. Ex-Im Bank supported $15.5 billion in U.S. exports in fiscal year 2000.