The Medical City acquires GSIH
The Medical City (TMC) announced last Friday, April 16 that it has assumed the management and operations of the Great Savior International Hospital (GSIH) and the Global Medical Network (GMN) in Iloilo, in anticipation of a full purchase of these facilities planned before year’s end. They have also acquired existing sister sites in Luzon, including the Mercedes Medical Center (MMC) in Pampanga and a network of outpatient clinics in Dagupan, Olongapo and Cavite.
Dr. Alfredo Bengzon, TMC’s president and CEO, said that whatever good that TMC had been doing in Metro Manila, should be shared to those in Iloilo and other parts of Luzon and Visayas. TMC’s slogan goes “Where patients are partners.”
“These acquisitions concretize our firm commitment to providing Filipinos greater accessibility to world-class healthy care services,” Dr. Bengzon said.“We intend to make substantial investments in enhancing the facilities and services available to our patients in these locations,” Dr. Bengzon added.
According to Margaret Bengzon, group head for Strategic Services of TMC, the company invested P600-million for this venture with P150-million for the network. She added that P400-million will be invested in Iloilo alone.
“These are exciting times and we welcome the opportunity to become part of the growing TMC family. We believe that there is tremendous synergy from the shared visions of our institutions in uplifting the state of the nation’s health, with this to be achieved through productive and innovative partnerships among health care institutions, professionals and beneficiaries,” said Dr. Evangeline Johnson, GSIH and MMC’s president and CEO. “This is a dream come true for GSIH. When we founded GSIH, we’ve always wanted it to be the leader in health care. This hospital was meant to be great. I trust Dr. Bengzon and TMC. Otherwise, I won’t let it go,” she said.
Dr. Bengzon said that Johnson will be the chairman of the board.
CHANGES
According to Dr. Bengzon, changes will be made in the existing facility of GSIH, with renovations done from floor to floor. “We need more space for imaging facilities as well as doctors’ clinics, for example,” he said.
He also presented a drawing of the proposed annex building that will be completed before the year ends. “We want to offer more services that require certain facilities to be put up,” he said.
Ms. Bengzon, on the other hand, revealed that most of the existing staff of GSIH will be re-hired following a call for a mass retirement. “As a policy in any company, we asked the staff to retire and now we have re-engaged a number of them. At present, we are still in the process of re-hiring, thus I could not provide a number yet. GSIH will have 250 beds, thus we plan to double the number of our employees,” she assured.
