Asian Hospital and Medical Center, a hospital under Metro Pacific Health, invests P300m (US$5.5m) in high-tech but affordable services for more cancer patients. A two-floor dedicated facility is designed to cater to about 50 cancer patients daily.
Dr. Beaver Tamesis, who took the helm of AHMC as President and CEO last November 2022, revealed to Healthcare Asia that whilst the dedicated floors will be occupied by over 25 bays for infusions and a drug preparation facility, some areas will be reserved for patients undergoing transplantations.
The facility will be highly sterilied and there will also be enough space for staff to prepare the drug treatment for patients, said Tamesis, who used to lead the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines.
New equipment
Since the floors are already available, Tamesis said the funds would be used to fit out the floors and buy cutting-edge technology for radiation, chemotherapy, and other necessary equipment for cancer care services.
Currently, the hospital is investing in radiotherapy equipment, particularly the TomoTherapy, which enables the radiation oncologist and the treatment group to precisely hit the tumour with radiation whilst avoiding excessive radiation to the surrounding normal tissue
“We’re finding this is a state-of-the-art [tech] because this is the best way and best prognosis for a patient whose tumours are sensitive to the radiation and under the risk response rate,” said Tamesis.
One of AHMC’s immediate plans is to study how to identify tumours by undergoing blood tests instead of having to “bite” a tissue out of patients. Tamesis told Healthcare Asia that they are also looking into robotics treatment in the mix of their hospital services. At present, robotic surgeries are available only in some hospitals in the country.
All of these are pipeline projects of AHMC’s Asian Cancer Institute, which has been offering cancer treatments since its establishment eight years ago.
Charity partnerships
Recently, the Philippine health department received a P500-m (US$9.2-m) fund that will be allocated for its cancer control programme, which is under the National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA).
This fund will be distributed to 31 hospitals, including AHMC, to invest in the necessary treatment and reduce the financial cost for cancer patients.
Read more about the HealthcareAsia feature here: https://healthcareasiamagazine.com/healthcare/exclusive/south-manilas-apex-hospital-puts-dedicated-facility-cancer-treatment
Article by: Dana Macarilay, MPH Marketing Department
Info from: Healthcare Asia Magazine Article (posted via Asian Hospital and Medical Center Facebook page)
