Resort developer ventures into health care business

The Alegrado family behind the Blue Water Resorts brand has decided to go into the health care business with the construction of a hospital in Lapu-Lapu City.

The Allegiant Regional Care (ARC) Hospitals in Barangay Agus will offer 100 beds. The first phase of development is estimated to cost P350 million and will be completed by 2017.

ARC Hospitals medical director Dr. Alex Alegrado said they also plan to open more hospitals in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“We are eyeing to open in Bohol and Butuan. These are places where we also have resorts and accommodation properties,” he said during the groundbreaking ceremonies for their first hospital yesterday.

The proposed facility in Butuan is targeted to open in 2022, or five years after they open the hospital in Mactan.

Alegrado said the Lapu-Lapu hospital will have four levels.

Development of the entire property will be divided into three phases over 10 years.

The first phase will involve the development of 1.4 hectares of the 3.4-hectare property.

“The hospital will offer a different kind of feel to the patients. Upon entering, you can already feel the healing environment and privacy that we want to put emphasis to. There will be a lot of greens as we will be planting and landscaping the area,” Alegrado said.

The facility will have two operating rooms.

It will have five main sections, namely, cardiovascular, day surgery, endoscopy, major surgery and obstetrics-gynecology surgery.

It will offer a comprehensive range of imaging services.

“Our Hospital Information System for laboratory test management and reporting is fully integrated with our other systems which allowed us to provide quality and cost-efficient services in hematology, clinical chemistry, microbiology, histopathology and phlebotomy,” Alegrado said.

The building footprint will only be 2,000 square meters. About 1.2 hectares will be for the green and landscaped space.

The second phase, set to start in three to four years after the first phase, will be the specialty center or the Cancer Center.

“For the third phase, we are planning a medical school,” said Alegrado.

Alegrado was a senior resident physician in John Hopkins Singapore for five years. He said he wants to provide in their Mactan hospital the technology and service that they offer to their patients in Singapore.

Rhyz O. Buac, corporate treasurer, noted the lack of hospital beds in Mactan.

The island has a population of about 350,000, which increases at an average of two percent yearly, but only 301 hospital beds.

“The standard is one bed per 500 people so there is a huge gap to fill. Mactan is also a tourism destination which attracts a lot of tourists into its beautiful beaches. We want to be able to serve both the local and tourist market and ensure the people here get the best health and medical care,” said Buac.

Lapu-Lapu Mayor Paz Radaza said the construction of the hospital will complement the local tourism industry.

“We need more state-of-the-art medical facilities here as it complements tourism and the population is also growing. Now we have one district hospital that caters to the needs of the poor and one private hospital in Basak which is on the other side of the island. This is a much needed addition,” she said.