AAR Healthcare to shut Tanzania business

AAR Healthcare Ltd has began the winding-up process of its Tanzania business citing financial difficulties.

This comes just after the Kenya business recorded a 55 per cent drop in performance for the year ended December 2020, attributed to high claims due to Covid-19.

In a memo to staff, AAR Healthcare Tanzania Ltd Acting CEO Andrew Rowell said the firm has been facing financial difficulties “for some time” now worsened by the failure of the NHIF model in Tanzania, the pandemic and a decline in traffic to their clinics.

“The Company’s parent, AAR Healthcare Limited as a major creditor to the company, is no longer willing to support the financial requirements of the company and it is on this basis that the Board of Directors has resolved to initiate a creditor’s voluntary winding up process,” he said.

A creditors meeting will be conducted on April 22, to formally appoint a liquidator.

Rowell told staff business operations would continue as normal pending the creditors meeting and their employment contracts would not be interfered with.

“I wish to thank you personally for your loyalty to the company and sincerely regret that the creditors are being forced into the pending action. It is certainly not due to the fault of our employees’ effort but mainly the economic environment,” said Rowell.

AAR started its operations in 1984 solely doing medical evacuations by road and air and has since become giant health insurance across East Africa. It operates over 28 clinics in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania serving over half a million outpatients annually.