First in Cebu: Hospital to have home for Japanese retirees

CEBU, Philippines - A Japanese investor has recently signed an agreement with the Cebu Doctor’s University Hospital for the establishment of the first nursing home facility in Cebu for Japanese retirees.

The pilot project will cater to short-term Japanese elderly clients or those active, ambulant elderly Japanese with low health care requirement. The facility will also offer services to those requiring short term stay only either for cosmetic procedures, dialysis and to avoid seasonal allergies such as hay fever in Japan.

Cebu Doctors’ Group of Companies and Osamu Matsuda, chairman of NAGOMI Group which is operating eight nursing home facilities in Kushiro City, Hokkaido, have initially agreed to convert the 4th floor of the Cebu Doctor’s South Gen hospital in Naga which covers 540 square meters floor area.

The hospital agreed to construct the rooms according to the specifications of NAGOMI and agreed to lease it to NAGOMI on a medium-term basis.

There will be eight single rooms and one twin room with communal lounge and kitchen.

The facility will hire a local nurse who will get extensive trainings on how to handle Japanese patients. This is a place that will be used for actual training of Japan-bound healthcare workers.

Roberto A. Varquez, Center Manager of the Cebu Investment Promotions Center, said that this will encourage more investors or hospital owners from Japan to build more retirement facilities here.

This facility will be the fruit of their five-year effort to promote Cebu as a retirement hub.

Varquez said they have started to promote Cebu to the Japanese market in 2004 because back then, they already identified Japan as the biggest market in the retirement industry.

Japan’s growth rate, he said, is going negative after reaching zero percent.

This means that Japan’s productive population is decreasing while the population of less active citizens is increasing.

This poses a disadvantage to Japan’s economy because they are set to spend more on retirement benefits than gain from the productivity of the citizens.

The Japanese Government provides retirement benefits of up to USD2,005 monthly.

Varquez said that nursing home facilities may save up to 50 percent if they bring their facility to Cebu.

Cebu is now complete with facilities, especially for health care, to cater to their needs.

There are a number of hospitals in Cebu that meet global standards. Peace and order is also a plus point because Cebu, he said, is guaranteed safe. He also cited that Cebu is tsunami-free.

Japanese are also more familiar with Cebu than Manila so adjusting would be less of a problem. Airline companies also offer direct flights to Japan. —(FREEMAN)