RSA Foundation said it will build a hospital and a research facility in Southern Luzon to help the country’s health-care system better deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and future health crises.
The foundation, established by San Miguel Corp. President and COO Ramon S. Ang, said it will build the facility on a 3-5 hectare property.
The health facility, which will specialize in research on infectious diseases and providing care for ambulatory patients, will be designed to operate efficiently during a crisis, he said. “This pandemic has been an eye-opener for all of us. Our healthcare system needs to be strengthened. For this reason, we want to help build up our country’s capability to handle future pandemics and other health crises,” Ang said.
“We envision this hospital to be resilient and adaptable. It will operate efficiently, improve health services, and make health care more accessible and affordable to a greater number of Filipinos.”
He said the facility will focus on treating ambulatory or outpatients so that it can treat more patients from vulnerable or disadvantaged communities for sicknesses that typically won’t require hospitalization.
The hospital, he added, would also be home to a research facility that will provide support for government on public health concerns, specifically, infectious diseases.
Over the last six months, since the enhanced community quarantine was declared, San Miguel emerged as a leading private sector partner in the response to fight Covid-19.
It allotted P500 million out of its over P13 billion Covid-19 response package to donate to government and public and private hospitals various medical-grade personal protective gear and life-saving, capacity-building medical equipment.
Its donations of RT-PCR testing machines, fully automated RNA extraction machines, and PCR test kits alone, raised the country’s total testing capacity by 15,000 tests per day.
It is also the first major Philippine company to put up its own purpose-built RT-PCR testing laboratory and commit to testing its entire workforce—some 70,000 strong, composed of employees, partners, consultants, and third-party providers.
The planned hospital is part of Ang’s and San Miguel’s commitment to help revive the economy through crucial infrastructure projects that can immediately create jobs, stimulate economic activity, and in the long-term pave the way for an inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery.