19 'super health centers' to rise in Philippines

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A total of 19 so-called "super health centers" will soon rise in Cebu, the first one to be located in Barangay Lagtang, Talisay City, which broke grounds on Friday, February 10, 2023 with Senator Christopher Lawrence 'Bong' Go.

In his visit to Cebu, Go, who also attended the 5th year anniversary of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center's Malasakit Center, said that there will be a total of 42 SHCs that will be constructed in Central Visayas.

The senator said that of the 19 SHCs, nine were supposed to start operating in 2022 while the 10 will be constructed in 2023. However, there were delays in the construction in 2022. Hence, all the 19 SHCs will altogether be constructed within the year.

The national government targets to construct more than 600 SHCs all over the country.

The SHC, according to Go, will have basic medical services, such as database management, out-patient, birthing, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: x-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy, and ambulatory surgical unit.

Other available services are eye, ear, nose, and throat (EENT) service; oncology centers; physical therapy and rehabilitation center; and telemedicine.

Dr. Helen Dadamba, VSMMC chief of Professional and Allied Health Services, said that more than 729,000 indigent patients, mostly from Cebu, have availed of the services offered by the Malasakit Center for the past five years.

To date, there are already 154 Malasakit Centers nationwide.

Go added that a total of P50 million will be downloaded to VSMMC from his office to help indigent patients.

Partnership

Meanwhile, the Allegiant Regional Care (ARC) Hospitals launched its clinical partnership yesterday with Farrer Park Hospital through a surgical conference.

The conference is part the hospital's Continuing Medical Education (CME) Program.

The collaboration will help increase ARC's standards of excellence through improvements in patient journey and patient care.

Dr. Alex E. Alegrado, ARC Hospitals' Medical Director, said that this Surgical Conference is one form of advancing their affiliated physician's medical education where they will learn from world-renowned experts from Farrer Park Hospital in the implementation of the standard of clinical care.

Farrer Park Hospital CEO Dr. Timothy Low said that their hospital is designed and built to be a "hospital of the future."

Farrer Park Hospital is a private facility in Singapore with specialist clinics, medical technology, nuclear medicine and radiology services to support a wide range of surgical specialties in oncology, orthopedic, gastroenterology and cardiology.

Both hospitals also signed a Memorandum of Agreement through this continuing medical education and trained by experts in their respective fields.

The CME provides further education of practicing healthcare professionals, particularly the residents. These include sharing of knowledge, leadership and best practices through strategic collaborations, learning events and case conferences.

'One thing good about this partnership is that if we have patients that need to be treated in Singapore, we can always refer to the experts without the need of going around,' said Dr. Alegrado in a press conference.

Dr. Low said that Farrer Park Hospital also owns a five-star hotel, One Farrer Hotel, which is located within the same premises of the hospital dubbed as Connexion, an integrated building founded in 2011 by a group of medical and hospitality specialists.

'The moment you have a clearance to be discharged as patient by the hospital but you need to come back, let's say three or one week after, the patient have a hotel to stay and save a lot of cost. It is more expensive to stay in a hospital bed than stay in a hotel bed,' Dr. Low said, adding their hospital patients are served food by the same chef of their hotel.

Julie Alegrado-Vergara, president of ARC Hospitals, said that there hospital is also offering more or less the same accommodation.

Patients who need to recover but must come back for a check-up a few days after being discharged can be accommodated at their Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort and enjoy delicious food, she said.

'Slowly we are getting there,' said Alegrado-Vergara when asked if ARC Hospitals will soon be at par with their hospital-partner, the Farrer Park Hospital.

ARC Hospitals is located in Barangay Agus, Lapu-Lapu City and it is accredited by the Department of Health as a Level 2 hospital with a 100-bed capacity.

ARC, named after Alegrado-Vergara's father name, Arcadio, is a collaborative effort by a team of local and international medical professionals to advance healthcare delivery in the Philippines, with personal commitment to focus on the patient's care and well-being.