Manila - The Asian Development Bank said Thursday that it approved a 50-million-dollar loan to make health-care services accessible to the poor in the Philippines.

The loan would fund the Better Health Care Project, which would construct health-care facilities and provide state-of-the-art equipment to existing institutions in cities and towns outside the Philippine capital, the Manila-based bank said.

The project would also provide financial support to small private health providers - such as midwifery clinics, diagnostic facilities and community drug stores - to allow them to move closer to rural communities.

It is to also provide funds for capital investment and working capital to promote a more efficient health-care-delivery system by outsourcing services and establishing private insurance schemes.

The Gender and Development Cooperation Fund is to also provide a grant of up to 400,000 dollars for the project. The fund's contributors are Canada, Denmark, Ireland and Norway.

The bank said an additional 1 million dollars would also be provided from its Japan Special Fund to build capacity for public-private partnership in health services. (dpa)