World Bank Reviews Health Holdings Amid Patient Detention Claims

The World Bank is reviewing its portfolio of health care investments and bolstering its oversight procedures following a Bloomberg News investigation that found the bank had invested in for-profit hospitals that detained poor patients and turned them away in emergencies.

The Bloomberg report, published in January, found that some World Bank-funded hospitals in the Philippines and Uganda barred patients from leaving until they could pay their bills — a practice illegal in many countries — according to accounts they or their families provided, hospital documents and interviews with former employees. Some facilities denied emergency care to patients until they ...