Why Medical Equipment Loan is Important for Medical Professionals?

Technology and medicine go hand in hand in today’s times. With the rapid advancement in the field of technology and medicine, being up to date is essential for any doctor or medical professional. If you are running your own practice, you have to ensure that you provide your patients with the best care. This can be done by ensuring that you use the latest equipment like ECG machines, MRI equipment, X-ray machines, hospital beds and stretchers, and a lot more. Using the right equipment is crucial in medical procedures and in ensuring that your patients are comfortable during their visit or stay in the clinic.

However, given the rising rate of inflation, purchasing medical equipment as well as other items can be extremely challenging. Using your profits for improving your amenities may be one way to look at things, but it may not always be feasible. The profits can be used on multiple other heads like salaries, hiring, advertising, marketing, etc. Moreover, using all your earnings towards the practice can also ultimately turn into a loss. This is where a loan can help you. Loans can be readily used to expand your practice. Moreover, they can be paid back over the long term without hampering your business or practice.

Medical equipment loans can be beneficial for doctors, healthcare professionals, individuals, as well as companies. If you are still not sure of how a medical equipment loan can benefit your practice, read this article and find out the various advantages of this loan.

What is A Medical Equipment Loan?

A medical equipment loan is a loan that can be used by medical practitioners and other healthcare professionals for healthcare-related businesses. The loan is mainly aimed at helping medical businesses with expansion through new equipment, repair and upgrades, etc. Upgrading equipment can be critical for healthcare businesses, and a medical equipment loan provides lump sum funds for the same.

You can avail of such a loan from several leading banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). The funds can be used towards buying new machinery or repairing old ones. The loan can also be used to cover service costs like installation, etc. However, it is essential to check the features and other aspects of a medical equipment loan to ensure you get the best deal with the most valuable features.
These are also available for dentists for furthering their practice, called a medical equipment loan for dentists.

What Are the Features of A Medical Equipment Loan?

A medical equipment loan can offer the following features

• A medical equipment loan can offer high amounts of lump sum funds that can be used to purchase expensive healthcare related machinery. You can apply for a loan for as high as Rs. 3crore. However, the maximum limit can differ based on the cost of living of your city. Metro cities are relatively more costly than tier 2 and tier 3 cities. So, the loans can be higher in the case of the former. You can contact the lender to get more information on the same.
• The loan can be used to purchase medical equipment and other supplementary machinery only. It can also be used for the installation or repair of equipment. It cannot be used for other business-related operations and expansion requirements. For this purpose, you can opt for a business loan.
• A medical equipment loan can offer a repayment term of up to 84 months or seven years. However, you can also get a loan with a principal moratorium of up to two years in some cases.
• A medical equipment loan can be availed of at attractive rates of interest starting from 9.99% only. However, the precise value can depend on your credit history, credit score, the profitability of your healthcare business, the value of the loan, the term of the loan, and other similar factors.
• Such a loan may or may not need collateral. This can vary for different lenders and applications and largely depend on the value of the loan. Collateral is a type of security that a loan provider may ask you to submit to cover the risk of the loan. It can include a physical asset like real estate or gold or an electronic investment like mutual funds, insurance, equity shares, etc. The lender keeps this collateral until the loan is repaid. In case you are not able to settle the debt, the lender has the legal right to take ownership of the collateral to retrieve costs. A high loan amount may need collateral.
• Like most other loans, a medical equipment loan comes with a processing fee that can amount to 1 to 2.5% of the loan amount. This can vary from lender to lender.
• A medical equipment loan can be availed of quickly. The funds are usually disbursed within a few hours to a few weeks from submitting the loan application and completion of verification by the lender.
• You can apply for a medical equipment loan in person by visiting the lender’s physical branch or submitting your application online from the comfort of your home or office.
• Such types of loans can be used by doctors or dentists running a private practice, medical labs, nursing homes, diagnostic centres, and other similar healthcare organizations.
• These loans offer the option of pre-payment that helps you settle the debt sooner than planned. This can be an excellent option to reduce your debt liability and repay the loan over a short period. If you are able to generate adequate profits, you can opt for this option. The pre-payment charges on a medical equipment loan can start from as low as 5%.

How Can You Benefit from Taking A Medical Equipment Loan?

As a medical practitioner or a healthcare company, you can benefit from a medical equipment loan in several ways. Let’s see what these are:

You can use the loan for expansion

The money from the loan can be used for the development and growth of your business. As stated above, technology plays a crucial role in medicine. It has infiltrated the medical industry and is being used in the simplest of procedures. You can use the funds to buy equipment for various departments of your practice and increase your patient base. This can increase revenue and help to build a solid reputation in the field of medicine. You can use a medical equipment loan for the following types of items:

• Hospital beds and stretchers
   
• Diagnostic tools
   
• X-ray machine
   
• MRI machine
   
• ICU equipment
   
• Ventilators
   
• Resuscitation equipment
   
• Defibrillators
   
• ECG machine
   
• And more
   
• The list is long and can depend on the field of medicine you are practising.

The loan can be repaid quickly

The new machinery can help you to earn more and increase your profits. These profits can be used to repay the loan without any hassles. Furthermore, medical equipment loans offer long tenures of up to 7 years along with a principal moratorium of up to twoyears. So, you can take plenty of time to gradually clear the debt.

The loan can improve the productivity of your employees

There is no need for skimping money with sufficient funds in your business. You can offer your employees bonuses and better salaries to keep their morale up. Using the latest equipment will also cut the manual workload drastically and, in turn, improve the productivity levels and job satisfaction of employees.

You can get a loan at low interest rates

Since a medical equipment loan requires collateral, the rate of interest is relatively low, starting from 9.99% only.This allows you to take high values of funds at minimal costs. Moreover, a lot of lenders accept the machinery you purchase from the loan as collateral. This makes it easier to apply for a loan even if you do not have assets to show as collateral. Small practices or doctors who are just starting out can particularly benefit from this. A medical equipment loan can also be taken by a dentist since their practice requires the latest equipment and technology.

You can get a high loan amount

Compared to a business or personal loan, a medical equipment loan can offer higher loan values that can suffice to buy suitable machinery. A medical equipment loan can provide you with up to Rs. 3 crores in lump sum funds. Moreover, this loan value can be used for the repair of old equipment as well as the purchase of new ones. In addition to this, medical equipment loans can be used to cover expenses like delivery, installation, repair, etc., of equipment too.

You can get the loan in a few simple steps

The process for a medical equipment loan is simple and straightforward. Many lenders also provide the option of applying for a loan online. This significantly cuts downtime and effort. Since time is crucial in a doctor’s life, these loans have been designed to offer the utmost convenience to you. The processing time is also short. So, you can have your funds credited to your account in no time.

The loan is very flexible

Several lenders offer customizable options for a medical equipment loan for dentists, other doctors and owners of hospitals, that can fit right into your budget and requirements. You can negotiate the rate of interest, tenure, as well as collateral and get a loan that caters to your exact needs. Medical equipment loans are pretty flexible and can be customized for each borrower. You can choose the frequency of your settlements like monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. There are also options to prepay the loan at a fee as low as 5%.

The loan offers tax deductions

You can use your medical equipment loan for tax deductions and save money. This money can later be used for your business’s expansion or to pay towards the settlement of the loan.

How Can You Avail of A Medical Equipment Loan?

In order to use a medical equipment loan, you need to adhere to the following eligibility criteria:

1. The loan applicant should be at least 25 years old when applying for the loan.
2. The loan applicant should not be older than 65 years at the time of the loan’s maturity.
3.  The loan applicant should have a medical degree, such as Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Master of Dental Surgery (MDS), Doctor of Medicine (MD), or Master of Surgery (MS).
4. The loan applicant should have a minimum of one year post-qualification experience in the case of MBBS. In the case of other degrees like MDS, MD, andMS, the loan applicant should have a minimum of 3 years of post-qualification experience.
5. The loan applicant must have a favourable credit history and a high credit score.
6. The loan applicant must have collateral for the loan.
7. The loan applicant must submit the KYC documents required for loan processing. For self-employed professionals, this includes the following:

• PAN Card
   
• Aadhaar Card
   
• Residence address proof like an electricity bill, rent agreement, or passport
   
• Business address proof like an electricity bill or a rent agreement

For a firm or a company, KYC documents can include:

• The PAN Card of the company
   
• Business address proof
   
• Business registration
   
• Aadhaar Card of the proprietor, partner, or director
   
• Residence address proof of the proprietor, partner, or director like an electricity bill, rent agreement, or passport

Other than this, both types of applicants must submit:

• Operative bank account statements of the last six months
   
• Qualification documents like the degree certificate and certificate of practice

To Sum It Up

A medical equipment loan can significantly help in the expansion of your healthcare business and keep patients and customers happy. It is easy to apply and quick in disbursement. Moreover, it offers low-interest rates and long tenures that make it relatively simple to settle the debt. It also provides tax deductions and low processing fees that can help you lower the overall costs and enable better savings. So, if you need to buy new equipment for your business, do consider the option to apply for a medical equipment loan from a reputed loan provider.

Disclaimer

We take utmost care to provide information based on internal data and reliable sources. However, this article and associated web pages provide generic information for reference purposes only. Readers must make an informed decision by reviewing the products offered and the terms and conditions. Medical Equiment Loan disbursal is at the sole discretion of Poonawalla Fincorp.
*Terms and Conditions apply