He was just leaning to enjoy retirement when he received a call from the former Human Resources director of MSD who had joined Metro Pacific Health (MPH), the largest private hospital operator in the Philippines.
It has a nationwide portfolio of 19 hospitals, supported by two allied health colleges, a growing network of primary care clinics and cancer care centers, and a central clinical laboratory.
“I wasn’t aware that he had joined MPH and he talked to me about the challenges that Metro Pacific Health was going through and their vision was to integrate all of these hospitals together,” recalled Dr. Beaver R. Tamesis, President and CEO of Asian Hospital and Medical Center.
“In particular, he mentioned that Asian Hospital is their flagship and they asked me to come in to see what I could do in terms of growing the reach of Asian Hospital and increasing the number of patients we could actually serve. So I said that it sounded interesting. It’s related to health but not really something that I had focused on all of my career. So I said yes, I might as well try a different challenge,” he continued.
His family could only scratch their heads and wonder why Dr. Tamesis decided to go back to work after having worked for MSD for 27 years. His last eight years were spent as Managing Director and President of MSD. He also served as President of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines for six years.
First time
DR. TAMESIS pointed out that this would be the first time he would be managing a hospital full time. His only experience of working at a hospital was to contribute ideas to the marketing department of another tertiary hospital.
“It’s extremely different from running a pharmaceutical company. However, there are many areas of commonalities and it’s really the people. It’s really about how you grow people, recognize talent, and give them the recognition that is due them and then plan their career growth. In that way you can constantly motivate them, you can keep them excited waking up in the morning to come to work because they know they are doing something, contributing something for the greater good. That aspect is very, very similar,” he said.
As for running a hospital, Dr. Tamesis pointed out that he had to address many concerns. This included the air conditioning, power consumption, the daily influx of patients, whether the patients are getting the right service at the right time, privacy concerns and the doctor community.
“During my first couple of months, I would conduct listening tours just to listen to the doctors, what their thoughts were, what they wanted Asian Hospital to be, how they saw themselves participating in the growth, development and fulfillment of the potential of Asian Hospital,” he said.
“So those were the myriad of issues that I had to face, to deal with but the good thing is that I was able to bring in all the 27 years of management experience that I had. That was readily transportable,” Dr. Tamesis added.
Fulfilling its potential
WITH regards to his plans for Asian Hospital, Dr. Tamesis said the hospital “has to be able to fulfill its potential,” noting that the hospital has not been fully outfitted for all floors
“We still need to be able to reach out to the greater public so that it is not just the village dwellers. We have to be broader, ‘democratic’ in terms of the people that we reach, the services that we have for them,” he said, adding that Asian also needs to bring in the different types of technology and modes of treatment that are already present in the different parts of the world.
He acknowledged though that Asian Hospital already “has some fantastic stuff.” Dr. Tamesis said he was proud of the Asian Cancer Institute because it has the Tomotherapy where “you don’t actually need to screw in a metal crown” and that the radiation beams are able to hit the tumors without having to involve the surrounding tissue.
Asian Hospital’s cardiovascular services, Dr. Tamesis said, “is really top of the time in terms of world-class quality.”
“We are ensuring that all our pathways are there to make sure that any heart attack patient who comes through the door, we can attend to them immediately and actually even do angioplasty if necessary on some of these patients,” he added.
In terms of stroke care, he pointed out that Asian Hospital is also capable of carrying out brain bypass surgery.
“We have heard all about heart bypass surgery and now we can also do brain bypass surgery. Our clinical staff is doing a lot of fantastic work and they are already starting to integrate all the things that we do, our pathways, among others,” he said.
Dr. Tamesis also lauded the nursing care at Asian Hospital, describing the level of attention they give to patients as “unsurpassed in terms of quality.” While he acknowledged that the country is suffering from a shortage of nurses, Dr. Tamesis said Asian Hospital is fortunate that it has “a steady supply of nurses.”
“We have a regular pipeline so that we can constantly replace those who feel the need to already migrate. This means that we have tie-ups with schools, the review centers so that when they pass the board exams, we have a steady supply of nurses who can potentially come in with the appropriate orientation and get familiarized with the different tools that we have and eventually be deployed,” Dr. Tamesis said.
Management style
WHEN asked about his management style, Dr. Tamesis said he wanted to be more collaborative and be more of a coach. He sees himself encouraging his staff to adopt their innovations, helping them to open their eyes and give them a new perspective of things.
“Oftentimes, they find the solutions themselves. That is what I love about a really smart, knowledgeable and highly experienced management time. Oftentimes, it is just a matter of opening their eyes or giving them a different perspective. They can really run it,” he said,
He describes his first few months at the helm of Asian Hospital as “extremely intense” as he was going through the listening tours and trying to understand the issues of Asian Hospital and what more can be done to bring the hospital to its full potential.
“I think we came up with the right diagnosis and my leadership team got fully o board with it and we signed off in the middle of January that this is what we are going to work on and already we are seeing hopeful signs that people are responding,” Dr. Tamesis noted.
Back to the beach
AS TO where he sees himself five years from now, Dr. Tamesis said he sees himself going back to the beach to enjoy his retirement.
“I often tell people that we have to plan our obsolescence because sooner or later we have to have a successor. It is important that we always and constantly think of the next person in line so that we can move them up and groom them because that is also a way of retaining them,” he related.
He also regularly checks on himself to ensure that he is not stale and that he continues to bring value to the company he works for.
“I can tell you that after eight years of sitting in my President and CEO role of the previous company, I could feel that I was getting a bit stale. It would be unfair for the company if I continued. They had extended me a couple of times already,” Dr. Tamesis said.
“They were still asking if I wanted. I said it was time for me to go. So you have to listen to that voice inside of you that says, okay, maybe it’s time for you to go. You might not be bringing in enough juice anymore,” he added.
Now having made the commitment to help reinvigorate Asian Hospital, Dr. Tamesis said, “My Leadership team and I are fully committed and engaged to ensure that ALL the stakeholders (patients, doctors, nurses, technologists, back office employees, etc) are engaged, their voices heard, as we plot the path forward to exciting growth in our service offerings, continually improving the patient journey and experience of
Asian Hospital, as we move briskly into the 21st century while honoring the Legacy of our Founders, and past leaders. So yes, exciting times ahead!”