One-stop medical facility

For Evelyn Garcia, diversifying from transport to health services was a logical strategy. One of her five children, Azalea Mae Garcia-Heredia, is a doctor and so is her son-in-law, Gabriel Juan Heredia.

Borough Care Institute Ambulatory and Surgical Clinic, a one-stop medical facility in Libis, Quezon City, opened for business last May. Since July, it has been averaging 40 patients a day, a fourth of which are walk-ins.

"Our target revenue is P3 million a month for this year. So far, our four operating rooms are fully-booked and are making a combined P400,000 a day," said assistant medical director Heredia.

The bulk of Borough’s business come from corporations, many of these from nearby call center operations which have an estimated work force of 13,000.

"We provide quality medical care under one roof but we charge more than 50% less than what big hospital charge for diagnostics and other procedures. Our most popular services are liposuction and breast augmentation as well as eye-care, dermatological and dental services," said Heredia.

Borough has initially invested close to P40 million to buy equipment used by newer hospitals such as CT scan and ultrasound of the heart, breast, abdomen, prostate and gynecologic sonography. A separate eye surgery center is equipped with Zeiss Visu 200 surgical microscope, Millenium CX 2000, and the hacoemulsification system for cataract surgery.

To attract a wider market, the company has pioneered value for money programs such as Family Care, which provides free consultation and offers discounts for diagnostics for a membership fee of P800 per year and a Beauty Now, Pay Later plan, where cosmetic surgeries and dental services can be paid in installments via salary deductions.

Expansion

Borough is also trying out the highly lucrative medical tourism market developed by Asian countries such as Thailand, which had 600,000 tourist/patients last year. The company has already forged partnerships with Asia Travel to package the tours and with Richmonde Hotel for the accommodation of the clients before and after treatment.

Medical tourism capitalizes on the high cost of health care administrations in countries like the United States and the demand of patients for fast, inexpensive treatment.

A client shoots two birds at the same time. He/she enjoys an exotic destination for shopping sightseeing and golf. Afterwards, he/she can have a tattoo removed; seek elective surgery ranging from an eyelid tuck to a sex-change operation; have eye, dental, and other medical procedures done under international quality standards and at bargain basement prices.

"Our overseas Filipino workers are a good market. They can have cosmetic surgeries, eye and dental work done while they vacation here. The travel agents package their tours along with the medical procedures," said Heredia. "Among First World countries, Japan has cataract backlogs numbering 600,000. Those who try to schedule an operation today are treated a year after. It will be great if we can get a portion of this market."

A study conducted by consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., showed that medical tourism could become a multi-billion-dollar industry in Asia in no time. In India alone, it is expected to rake in $2 billion a year, starting 2012. Strikingly, because of the problems associated with health insurance and managed care in the United States, Americans come in with the lowest expectations of all and end up the happiest customers.

This early, Borough is already thinking of satellite clinics in high-traffic malls and in central business districts such as Global City.