A 300-bed hospital that will reportedly complement Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) at the cost of P1 billion will be built and will be operational in 24 months.
With advanced medical facilities, it will cater to both rich and poor, officials said.
The eight-story Allied Care Medical Experts Medical Center-Cebu (ACEMC-Cebu) Inc. will soon rise in Basak-Pardo, Cebu City, where the Lorenzo Milling Corp., which is near the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR) south campus, used to be.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony, ACEMC-Cebu president Dr. Amado C. Enriquez said the new hospital is a corporation organized by a group of doctors and non-medical professionals with the mission to establish a world-class tertiary hospital south of Metro Cebu with the core values of altruism, compassion and excellence.
The hospital will have state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, the proponents said.
It will employ highly competent medical specialists and personnel properly screened and trained for International Standard of Operations (ISO) and standard of care.
“Most doctors are enriching hospitals where they are connected, but they are not owners. That’s the difference with ACE where the doctors (and other investors) are owners. Their voice can be heard,” Enriquez said.
Ratio
Enriq uez said Cebu has insufficient health care services for its population (4.15 million as of 2016). All health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the country have no hospitals of their own.
“Every Cebuano deserves the best health care service. We are helping the government in delivering the best health care in the country,” Enriquez said.
ACEMC Medical Director Wyben R. Briones said this hospital will be the first medical center in Cebu owned, built and managed by the doctors themselves who are among the top practitioners in Cebu and Metro Manila.
ACMC-Cebu is a member of the nine ACE Group of Hospitals, four of which are operating in Metro Manila and the rest are under construction in Iloilo, Tacloban, Bohol and Dumaguete.
ACMC-Cebu Chairman Dr. Nicolas Molon said that with the traffic congestion in Cebu where it is difficult to reach the hospital in 10 to 15 minutes, this new hospital is the answer.
Help
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said that ACEMC will complement CCMC and the challenge now is on how these two hospitals will work together.
Rama criticized the Department of Health (DOH) for not helping the Cebu City Government in reconstructing CCMC, which was badly damaged by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake and typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
“My business is service. I hope your business is also service. Please, in conscience, make this hospital accessible to the poor,” Rama said.
Vice Mayor Edgar C. Labella, for his part, said the 2.8 percent population growth mentioned by Enriquez is caused by an influx of people from Visayas and Mindanao.
In addition, Labella said, Cebu is the center of business process outsourcing (BPO), which employs 100,000 people.
No wonder, Labella said, the economic growth in Cebu is 7.3 percent, higher that the 6.8 percent in the entire country.
“We will always support ACEMC as long as you (ACEMC owners) give access to the poor and complement CCMC,” Labella said.