INSTEAD of building a new one, Metro Pacific Resources Inc. is now looking at buying a hospital in Cebu to pursue its plan of tapping the medical tourism industry.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of Metro Pacific (a subsidiary of First Pacific Co. Ltd., which owns a significant stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.), said the company has already identified two to three hospitals in Cebu for the acquisition.
He declined to disclose the names of the hospitals, however. In an earlier interview, Pangilinan said Metro Pacific would build a new hospital in Cebu sometime next year as none of the existing ones are up for sale.
“Outside of PLDT, we are focused on the Metro Pacific initiative,” he said, referring to the hospital project.
Metro Pacific Resources Inc. owns shares in Makati Medical Center and Davao Doctors’ Hospital, as well as a nine-percent stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).
School
He told Sun.Star Cebu, though, that Metro Pacific is “still keen” on building a new facility in alliance with a school that offers paramedical courses.
But at present, the company prefers to acquire a hospital that already has an existing operation. Aside from a shorter setting-up phase, Pangilinan said taking over an existing hospital would only entail expansion and upgrading of existing facilities.
“Stage two would be to capture the medical tourism field, (especially) Cebu being a major tourist destination in the country,” he said. Metro Pacific targets to set up this facility in Cebu next year, he added.
The company is also set to implement the concept in the cities of Iloilo, Bacolod (Negros Occidental) and Angeles (Pampanga).
Major hospital operations and procedures will be done within the hospital but during a patient’s convalescing or recovery stage, Pangilinan said the company’s approach is to find a location where the patient can be housed outside the hospital.
“But the basic medical care will still be there,” he said.
Argao
He cited a nice beach in Argao as an ideal place for the medical tourism facility. But he declined to comment on the recent announcement of Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano that the Argao Beach Club is up for sale.
Metro Pacific’s “spa-hospital” concept aims to cater to the major tourists from countries like Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, China and the United States.
Pangilinan said the hospital will also be available to balikbayans (overseas Filipinos who visit or return to the country).
“The key would be the availability of the people to come to Cebu in a more convenient way and (to make) the payment mechanism more affordable to balikbayans, then it will be easier for them to come over,” he added.
Pangilinan said the company will also look into having the hospital accredited with international insurance companies like Blue Cross or Blueshield for the Americans or clients based in the United States.
Pangilinan was the keynote speaker during the 93rd general membership meeting of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc., yesterday at the Shangri-la’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa. (DME)
