A NEW hospital will open its doors to the public on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020.

Founded by a group of doctors, Allied Care Experts Medical Center Cebu (ACEMC-Cebu) located on N. Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City was officially unveiled Wednesday, Dec. 23. It aims to address the growing healthcare needs of Cebuanos, especially during this time of the coronavirus pandemic.

ACEMC-Cebu is a P1.2 billion facility with a 300-bed capacity.

The Department of Health (DOH) has allowed the hospital to initially operate 175 beds. It is a corporation initiated by a group of doctors and three non-medical professionals with the mission of establishing a world-class tertiary hospital south of Metro Cebu.

“We are almost at par with other hospitals. At present, we have installed the CT scan, advanced x-rays and mammograms. Our laboratories are state-of-the-art because they are led by doctors who are specialists. So there is always an assigned specialist for every department,” said ACEMC-Cebu president Dr. Mcarthur Conrado Salonga Jr.

Salonga said the hospital was conceptualized in 2016. Its opening came timely in the midst of the pandemic.

“We have dedicated the whole seventh floor exclusively for Covid patients with around 54 beds. It’s all isolation, no ward. We also have nurses who dedicated themselves to be assigned in the Covid area,” Salonga said, adding that medical workers assigned in the Covid area are well equipped with proper personal protective equipment.

Private hospitals are required to dedicate 20 percent of their capacity for coronavirus cases.

Salonga said there is a huge demand for healthcare facilities in the province.

“We lacked beds considering the growing population of Cebu,” he said.

Level 2 permit

The eight-storey Ace Medical Center was given a Level 2 permit by the DOH. It has 1,700 shareholders, 600 of whom are medical doctors.

Level 2 hospitals are departmentalized. It has an internal medicine, general surgery, pediatrics and OB gynecology, anesthesia and other major departments.

Salonga also said the facility houses sub-specialists including people handling the dialysis center, gynecology center and the wellness department.

The hospital can also handle minimally invasive surgery and spine surgery. It also has neurosurgeons.

“Practically, what the other big hospitals can do, we can complement,” he said.

Moreover, Salonga said they were also surprised that they have a lot of nurses that went onboard to serve the new hospital.

“We made it a point also that our salaries are way above the rest. That is the most important thing, that we comply with what is required by the government and even more because of the situation. Now that there is Covid, we also give additional risk exposure pay,” he said. (JOB)