MVP-led hospitals prepare for second surge in COVID-19 cases
The hospital group of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific has ample space in its network of 16 hospitals nationwide to serve more patients infected with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while efforts are also underway to increase its polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based testing capability.
Out of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI)’s 3,300-bed capacity nationwide, over 700 beds have been allotted for COVID-19 patients but utilization rate was only at 36 percent as of last week, MPHHI president Augusto Palisoc said at a press briefing.
In Metro Manila, where most of the cases are concentrated, utilization rate was higher at around 50 percent compared to 13-15 percent in the provinces.
“In a way, it is good in case they ease the quarantine and there’s a second surge, I’d like to think that we have a lot of capacity to be able to help,” Palisoc said.
The group’s hospitals in Metro Manila are Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Manila Doctors Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Marikina Valley Medical Center and Jesus Delgado Memorial Hospital. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in the city of Manila has been designated as the group’s main COVID-19 referral hospital.
MPHHI is likewise increasing its PCR testing capability from 500 to 2,000 tests per day and is studying how to contribute to rapid testing efforts to help prepare the country for the lifting of quarantine restrictions.
“We are upgrading [our] labs and expanding them to accommodate increased testing,” Pangilinan said.
The group is committed to mobilize its hospital network to help the government increase mass testing capacity from less than 10,000 to 30,000 daily, Pangilinan added. The group would augment its existing labs or build standalone labs in hot spot areas and assign clinicians to run those labs, he said.
“One would think that a crisis like this would be good for the hospital business, but it’s really not quite so,” Palisoc explained.
During the first two weeks of the Luzon-wide lockdown, Palisoc said the group’s hospital revenues dropped by as much as 50 percent as people were afraid to go to hospitals for fear of contracting the virus. Even some doctors avoided holding clinic in the medical arts buildings.
“We’ve had a few of our comrades dying and no financial profit can ever equate to the loss of one person. That is making us very sad. So one of the challenges now of the hospital business is to ensure safety of its workers, doctors, nurses, medtech [staff],” Palisoc said.
While there was an initial surge in in-patient demand in hospitals in the early days of the quarantine, Palisoc said this has gone down a bit since then.
“The new challenge to the hospitals is to be able to reconfigure themselves so that both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients will feel safe to visit. Hospitals will adapt to the new technologies to deliver health care remotely—that will be the new normal,” he said.
Because of the challenges arising from the pandemic, Palisoc sees a possible shakeout in the private sector health-care system. As MPHHI’s strategy has been to invest and acquire hospitals, rather than build from scratch, Palisoc said it would be open to look at new acquisitions.
“The pandemic might create some difficulties for some hospitals that perhaps might not have the financial resources to withstand the negative things that COVID-19 has brought to us,” he said.
Aside from its hospitals in Metro Manila, MPHHI controls eight provincial hospitals: Davao Doctors Hospital, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac, West Metro Medical Center in Zamboanga, Sacred Heart Hospital in Malolos, Bulacan, St. Elizabeth Hospital in General Santos City, Manuel J. Santos Hospital in Butuan and Los Baños Doctors Hospital and Medical Center Inc.
Late last year, MPHHI consummated a P35.3-billion deal to bring in a consortium led by American private equity firm KKR as a new strategic investor.
MPIC retained a 45-percent voting right in MPHHI but its economic interest was diluted to 20 percent from 60 percent. The new investor consortium that now controls 80 percent of MPHHI includes GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA INQ
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