Ayala, Yuchengcos’ Mapua partner vs health-care worker shortage

MANILA  -The Ayala Group and the Yuchencgo family’s Mapúa University teamed up to help address the shortage of healthcare professionals and raise standards in the sector.

Mapúa University’s partnership with Ayala’s AC Health will allow their students to train in facilities of the Healthway Medical Network, one of the country’s largest private operators of clinics and hospitals.

The group consists of 12 outpatient centers, four general hospitals and the soon-to-open Healthway Cancer Care Hospital, the first of its kind in the country.

“The pandemic exposed several gaps in our health care system, including the need to build a more resilient and sufficient health workforce. Addressing this requires strengthening the skills of future health-care professionals through education,” AC Health president and CEO Paolo Borromeo said in a statement. “We at AC Health, through our Healthway Medical Network group, are proud partners and look forward to offering training initiatives and scholarship programs that can further equip the next generation of health-care professionals,” he added.

Borromeo, who sits on a private sector advisory council to President Marcos, said there was also an urgent need to train health-care professionals such as nurses.

“Number one on our recommendations is to address the nursing crisis,” he said.

The Department of Health recently revealed that the country is facing a shortage of about 114,000 doctors and 127,000 nurses and it could take several more years to plug this gap.

Mapúa University, established nearly a century ago by Don Tomas Mapúa, signaled it was ready to meet this challenge. Last week, the university partnered with US-based Arizona State University for its School for Health Sciences.

“By venturing into health sciences, we hope to significantly contribute to the development of the Philippine health sector, both in clinical practice and research,” Mapúa University president Dr. Reynaldo Vea said.

Mapúa University, which has campuses in Makati and Manila, invested in state-of-the-art simulation tools and integrated training to develop practice-ready health-care graduates.

It will also have clinical simulation laboratories with hi-fidelity mannequins, robotics, virtual dissection tables, body projections and “standardized patients” who are patient-actors.

“The integrated teaching simulation models will recreate authentic hospital, out-patient, and community scenarios and enable them to gain confidence and experience even before they meet their first patients,” the statement showed. Mapúa University also partnered with Mandaluyong City Medical Center, Makati Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, Ospital ng Makati and St. Clare Medical Center for clinical rotations and internships. INQ