TIMELY to its 45th anniversary celebration, the Dr. Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center (VRPMC) officially broke the ground recently for its P350-million new health-care facility with a hotel-like amenity that is set to change the skyline of Mandaluyong City.
“VRP Medical Center will now enter a new phase. We will take on a new challenge…the role of a global and modern health-care institution,” VRPMC President Virma Vergel de Dios said during the tower’s inauguration.
In a media briefing, thereafter, she told reporters that the medical institution recognizes the need to upgrade, expand and keep up with the times as it enters the age of globalization and technological advancement.
“We purchased the property three years ago. There is really a need to expand because of the growing community of Mandaluyong and nearby cities,” she added.
According to her, the hospital’s reach is now encroaching the vertical developments within the city, as residential condominiums, offices and commercial buildings, as well as malls have taken over factory and industrial sites.
Envisioned as a place for new and exciting innovations, the 18-story tower adjacent to the main hospital will commence construction in the second or third quarter of this year, and it is set for completion within 20 to 24 months.
The soon-to-rise concrete marvel will house new offerings, such as assisted living services, transitional/step down care services, hospice, oncology center, dementia unit, dedicated operating rooms for laparoscopic surgery, executive check-up rooms, breast clinic, pain clinic and aesthetic center.
More so, it will feature a “hospitel” that will serve as an accommodation area for the families, relatives, friends, colleagues and other guests of the patients. With its star-rated amenities, they can have the “comfort of a home” near their recuperating loved ones confined in the main building of the hospital.
The health-care institution, popularly known before as Polymedic General Hospital, has been a historical landmark along the Edsa since the early-1970s.
While VRPMC has remained a medium-sized medical firm in over four decades since its inception, de Dios noted that it is their goal to become globally competitive and on a par with the rest of other leading level-three hospitals in the country.
As part of the company’s growth initiatives, she bared that the hospital has also spent around P300 million for the renovation of its old building, improvement of the façade, redesigning of the logo and construction of additional 43 new rooms, mostly private rooms, with contemporary and eco-friendly features like LED lights, inverted air-conditioning and low-flow water valves.
The enhancements, she added, include the refurbished event and conference hall, new chapel, four clinical department offices, bigger physician’s center and an open wellness area meant to give recuperating patients a place to exercise and commune with nature.
The firm, likewise, has appropriated around P100 million for the acquisition of new medical equipment to ensure provision of quality patient care.
“We’re only 230 beds right now. That makes a lot of difference if you’re running like a 600- to 800-bed hospital, which is more complicated and, of course, the care is not really like family-centered. At VRPMC, the reason they [the patients] like being here is because you’re not just a number, but you’re treated like a real patient,” the top executive explained.
Currently, the private hospital caters to the locals of Mandaluyong, who mainly comprised around 60 percent to 70 percent of its patient population, followed by residents of Makati and nearby cities.
With the upcoming facility that will offer different services from the main hospital, VRPMC is confident to serve more patients in the coming years.
“Why will they continue to come to VRPMC, it’s because of our highly qualified physicians, strategic location, quality of service and care that we give,” de Dios said.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza