ALI unit to put up chain of hospitals, clinics

IlOILO—Mercado General Hospital Inc. (MGHI), an affiliate of property giant Ayala Land Inc., opened the first of what is envisioned to be a nationwide chain of full-service hospitals offering affordable services under the QualiMed Health Network at the mixed-use Atria Park district in Mandurria on Friday.

This is part of a P5-billion plan mapped out by MGHI to develop a chain of 10 hospitals and 10 mall-based satellite clinics under the “QualiMed” brand across the country by 2020, incorporating these healthcare facilities in the firm’s mixed-use property projects.

For the Iloilo project, the four-storey hospital will initially operate 40 beds to be expanded to 150 beds.

MGHI is 33 percent owned by Ayala Land, which has committed to increase its interest to 40 percent through a P400 million to P450 million fresh capital infusion by 2016, said MGHI president Edwin Mercado.

As to why first QualiMed’s first full-service hospital was built in Iloilo, Mercado said it was because there was a “willing and able” group of doctors determined to build a new facility here, noting that outside of Metro Manila, Iloilo had the biggest concentration of doctors.

QualiMed Hospital Iloilo was built as a partnership between MGHI and a group of local doctors who conceptualized the new Iloilo hospital as early as 2009. The group of local doctors, led by its president, Henry Tupas, incorporated Panay Medical Ventures Inc. (PMVI) in 2011 and signed a joint venture agreement with MGHI in 2012, even before ALI bought into this holding firm, to put up a new hospital. MGHI has a 51-percent stake in the new Iloilo hospital while PMVI kept 49 percent.

The QualiMed network promises to offer healthcare services at least 30 percent lower than market rates, banking on a well-established procurement system and operational efficiencies arising from an “asset-light” structure. It employs a mix of salaried physicians alongside a “group practice” model, making professional fees regulated because they are already factored in its rates.

Mercado said the “group practice” model was already proven to be a successful model in the US and would thus be adopted by MGHI in other hospitals to be built across the country.