VCMC: New oxygen generator plant to cut hospitalization cost

CEBU, Philippines - Hoping to further broaden its scope of service while helping to bring down cost of hospitalization, the Visayas Community Medical Center (VCMC) on Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City officially inaugurated its P5 million oxygen generator plant last Saturday.

Not only will the hospital cut costs of filtering oxygen by around 50 percent, patients can now benefit from reduced medical charges as a result of the tertiary level hospital’s most recent investment, officials said during a press conference.

Previously, the hospital had a daily demand of 70 cylinders of oxygen priced at P210 each. They said with the new service, they now feel optimistic to cater to the demand at a more reasonable rate.

VCMC medical director Eli Belarmino said the hospital has once again inked partnership with long-time ally Brilliant Metal Craft (BMC) to install the facility which is expected to run for a maximum useful life of 25 years at 80 percent usage.

BMC president Edward Dampor Sr. said their company will provide all the technical support, equipment maintenance, including workforce, necessary for the upkeep of the said facility.

Being one of major installers of gas pipelines in the Philippines, BMC operates at the same time a training center for welding and fabrication which is accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

According to BMC division manager Jason James Dampor, the facility uses a technology which grabs ambient air from the atmosphere through compression by molecular separation.

“If you push the air from the bottom to top using our technology, it traps some of it and purifies air up to 95 percent purity level. The result is clean, moisture and oil free oxygen that has no impurities, carbon monoxides or other residues,” he explained.

The technology that this kind of facility uses is said to be secure since the plant is functioned at a low pressure not exceeding 100 psi, which is considered to be safe, while conventional hospitals, on the other hand, use high-pressurized tanks which can be potentially dangerous, he said.

Aside from reduced oxygen costs for their patients, VCMC officials also expressed optimism in getting more power savings for the hospital since the oxygen produced by the facility will also be used to activate their suction machine.

Meanwhile, VCMC chief executive and administrator Rev. Mequias Camba Jr. revealed that the construction of their mixed-use building, located at the façade of the hospital, will be finished by the end of this year as planned.

After a 14-month construction period that will culminate this November, the new building is anticipated to house several commercial establishments such as two drugstores, a bank, a fast food outlet and a spa that will be managed by three of VCMC’s resident doctors.

Most of the offices currently accommodated in the old building will now be transferred to the new mixed-use building which will also serve as the hospital’s medical arts structure, Camba said.

In addition to its basement parking, the management now also intends to put up a four-storey parking edifice near the hospital as part of their expansion goals, although this is still under the planning stage.

VCMC officials also said their new offers include 16-slice computed tomography scan, ultrasound, apheresis, dialysis unit, rehabilitation department as well as laparoscopy or an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis through small incisions  with the aid of a camera.

The hospital is also planning to move towards the direction of health tourism, facilitating partnership with foreign counterparts in Hawaii and Australia, among others.

But one thing they would like to be known for, Belarmino said, is being the only hospital with an effective community outreach program.

“We have a clinic unit based in Banhigan, Badian in southern Cebu where some of our doctors give free basic, primary services in family medicine,” he said, “and what makes this outreach program unique is the holistic approach we employ to make it work.”

He said they look at the totality of the patients’ situation to address not only their immediate concerns but also the long term ones, preempting that it might be the community that is causing their health condition. /JOB (FREEMAN)