Another group interested in CCMC Metro Pacific keen on buying hospital

CEBU - Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) has expressed interest to buy the government-owned Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) following the announcement of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

“We’d like to look at it. Cebu is an area that we have to make investments into,” said MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Early afternoon yesterday, Pangilinan made a brief visit to CCMC. He said the company is willing to spend a large amount of money, if there is a need for the hospital to be upgrade or renovated.

MPIC had been scouting for a property and hospital management partner in Cebu to realize its plan in putting up Spa Hospital here.

In an earlier interview with Pangilinan, he said that the company is willing to invest at least P1.5 billion to enter into healthcare industry in Cebu.

Pangilinan believes that Cebu offers a perfect site to take advantage of the increasing market of medical tourists worldwide seeking a health-friendly environment.

Ideally, he said MPIC would like to break the ground [to start the project] next year, said Pangilinan.

The Metro Pacific Group is already in the promising medical service sector through its huge investment infusion to Makati Medical Hospital (MakatiMed), and its recent 24 percent acquisition of Davao Doctors and Cardinal Santos Hospital also in Manila.

“Hospital is a good business,” he said stressing a point however, that the Philippines, standard of medical care needs attention.

Aside from Cebu, the group is also looking at acquiring stakes of hospitals in other areas in the Visayas such as Iloilo and Bacolod.

Currently, Metro Pacific has 2,000 beds it targets to hit 3,000 beds accommodation by the end of this year.

MPIC is an investment management firm, with core business interests in the rapidly expanding real estate and utility sectors. It is a publicly listed Philippine investment arm of Hong Kong based conglomerate—First Pacific Co. Ltd, which owns majority share of telecommunication giant, Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT).

Tommy To Replace Go

Mayor Osmeña yesterday said he is ready to replace Dr. Myrna Go as the acting chief of the Cebu City Medical Center and appoint Dr. Rodolfo Roman Bigornia as replacement if he would agree to manage the facility.

Osmeña said he knows that Bigornia — who headed the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) for 15 straight years – is very capable to manage the 47-year old hospital that he is planning to dispose if the buyer could meet to his conditions.

The mayor said he has no plans to make Dr. Go’s employment status permanent because he is not satisfied with her performance in the position, which she held for more than two years now.

“I do not want to plant a seed if the soil is not fertile,” the mayor said.

Some city councilors have suggested that Dr. Go’s employment status should be made permanent because it could be very awkward to think that the head of the CCMC is just a “casual” worker.

Not True

Osmeña said he does not agree to the statement of Bigornia that the city hospital’s performance is not so bad, because its mortality rate is much lower than private medical centers.

The mayor explained that the mortality rate or cases of deaths in CCMC could be lesser compared to private hospitals, because the people will no longer risk the lives of their critical patients by bringing them to the city hospital.

Bigornia believes that the CCMC’s performance could still be improved if the city will just appropriate more funds for its expenses, particularly for the purchase of medical equipment and drugs.

This reporter asked the mayor if he will to allocate the needed budget for the hospital’s capital outlay. 

Osmeña said, he could not appropriate an amount if there is no request for that budget.

But even if Osmeña will receive a request for such capital outlay, it is not an assurance that it will be included in the preparation of the annual budget for next year that will be endorsed to the City Council for approval not later than on October 16.

Osmeña explained that the hospital officials should first justify the necessity of such purchases to ensure that the money will not go to waste.

He recalled that the CCMC had recently received medical equipment donated by the government of Harlemermeer and SM City, but the hospital officials just placed them in the stockroom for about two years.

The mayor further explained that he did not offer to sell CCMC, but he just reacted to the intention of some persons who wish to buy the 200-bed hospital.

He however admitted that he is thinking of selling the CCMC because it failed to comply with its mandate to serve the health needs of the city residents even if the city has appropriated P140 million for its operation this year.

Osmeña also assured his constituents that once the CCMC would be sold, the city would continue to attend to the health needs of the people. – with Rene U. Borromeo/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)