AC Health spending P10 billion for quality healthcare

MANILA, Philippines — AC Health, the healthcare arm of Ayala Corp., is investing P10 billion to address fundamental gaps in accessibility, affordability and quality of healthcare.

“As part of Ayala’s commitment to investing in social infrastructure and human capital, AC Health’s vision is to build, invest, and connect various businesses into an integrated and seamless ecosystem of services across three key pillars of healthcare: drugstores, clinics, hospitals, and digital health,” said AC Health CEO Paolo Borromeo.

Through the long term investment, AC Health is boosting its health services through its portfolio which comprises drugstore chain Generika, Healthway Philippines, QualiMed Health Network and HealthNow, an all-in-one healthcare app that offers telemedicine consultations, online medicine ordering and delivery, and clinic and diagnostic testing booking.

AC Health also has a health technology arm, Vigos, as well as medicine importation and distribution arms, IE Medica and MedEthix.

As part of its COVID-19 response, AC Health converted QualiMed’s network into COVID-19 referral hospitals, which have admitted nearly 2,000 confirmed cases as of Aug. 10.

The company also helped secure one million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the Ayala Group via tripartite agreements with the government.

It has administered over 300,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since the first batch arrived in the Philippines late February.

AC Health said it remains committed to supporting the country’s vaccination efforts and would continue to strengthen partnerships with LGUs and private sector partners to  help achieve the nation’s goal of achieving herd immunity by year-end, Borromeo said.

Last month, AC Health also officially broke ground for the construction of Healthway Cancer Care Center, the Philippines’ first dedicated specialty cancer hospital.

The 100-bed facility, which is expected to be completed in July 2023, will offer a complete range of cancer services from screening, diagnosis, treatment to post-cancer care.

For this facility, the Ayala Group has invested over P2 billion and has partnered with Varian-CTSI, a leading oncology service provider, to develop and operate it.

“The eventual growth of the healthcare industry will be largely dependent on its ability to regain patient trust and confidence to continue looking after non-COVID healthcare issues.

AC Health remains in a unique position to ride on these key trends with our expanded ecosystem of end- to-end services and platforms for all patients and customers,” Borromeo said.