Franco-Vietnam Hospital The project is to construct a new, 200-bed hospital in HCMC.  This will be the first modern tertiary hospital in Vietnam.  Diagnosis and surgical operations will be the key business lines of the hospital.  The project will have a modern ambulatory department, currently in acute shortage in Vietnam.  It will offer modern facilities, international quality services, a transparent pricing policy, and professional management.  The hospital industry in Vietnam is under-equipped and inefficient, and not able to respond effectively to the epidemiological changes occurring in the country.  Non-communicable diseases, such as cardiac problems, cancer, or accident injuries, have been increasing dramatically in Vietnam, but the existing medical facilities and services are inadequate to meet such rising demands.  As a result, patients have to ensure long waiting time for surgeries, unnecessarily long hospital stays, and hidden costs.  The hospital''s main target clientele will be middle income households in the HCMC metropolitan area and its neighboring provinces.  This facility will be an important model case for the development of private hospitals in Vietnam, as there are only very few private (local and foreign owned) hospitals in the country.    The project will increase supply of high quality hospital service in Vietnam, and on the whole, improve the quality of hospital services in the country.  In doing so, the project will help relieve some of the burden placed on the public health system and channel their resources to increase service to lower income segment of the population. The hospital will provide modern facilities and a pool of French doctors who have long experience in different fields of services. The doctors will provide treatment services to the clients and train local medical staff. The hospital is expected to become the source of the best practice for the medical community in HCMC area by instituting professional management and training.  Successful implementation of this venture will provide an encouraging example for other foreign and Vietnamese investors to participate in further modernization of the hospital industry in Vietnam.  A modern, efficient hospital industry will be a key part of the social infrastructure necessary to promote and sustain growth and foreign investments in Vietnam.   The sponsor approached IFC two years ago with a different concept for the project.  IFC has provided continuous advice to the sponsor to revise the project concept: (i) to focus on providing a broader range of services to larger segment of population at affordable costs, and (ii) to adopt a phased approach to reduce the financial risks.  IFC, together with the Asian Development Bank, will provide the critical long-term financing, structured in a flexible way to provide sufficient development time for the project. The involvement of IFC has helped to mobilize financing from local banks, which will provide local currency financing on longer terms than their currently practice.  IFC will work closely with them to assist them in the structuring of their financing.  To date, very little, if any, long-term external financing has been successfully raised for private healthcare sector projects in Vietnam.