By Prince Golez
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has approved the University of the Philippines (UP)-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Cancer Center Public Private Partnership (PPP) project.
“The NEDA Board gave its nod for the construction of a P6-billion, 300-bed capacity hospital, the Marcos administration’s first PPP project,” the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a news release.
PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the project aims to establish a dedicated cancer hospital at the UP-PGH that will modernize its health infrastructure and provide comprehensive, high-quality, and affordable oncology service, thereby improving the country’s health service quality and capacity for cancer care.
It will be solicited from the public via bid and constructed as a 30-year Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system under the BOT Law, added Garafil.
The BOT scheme is an agreement that grants a concession to a private partner to finance, build, and operate a project over a fixed term. After that period, the project is returned to the public entity that originally granted the concession.
The PCO said the Cancer Center, with a lot area of 3,000 square meters, will be located within the UP-PGH campus in Manila.
The entire building will have a capacity of 300 beds (150 charity beds for the UP-PGH Area and 150 private beds for the Private Area), 15 to 20 floors, 350 parking spaces, 1,000 square meter of commercial space, and an area for three linear accelerators (LINAC) bunkers, it added.
“The hospital will provide a full range of cancer treatments, including radio oncology (radiotherapy), imaging, medical oncology, and support for the UP-PGH’s teaching and research activities,” according to Garafil.
“The UP-PGH’s private partner will design, engineer, construct, and commission the entire new hospital building, procure, maintain, and provide for the periodic replacement of medical and non-medical equipment,” she furthered.
The secretary said it will also maintain all non-clinical services for the entire hospital building, operate relevant commercial activities, provide clinical services to private-paying patients in the private area, and assume all associated costs of clinical manpower, drugs, and consumables.
The UP-PGH will provide the site at no cost, transfer the existing equipment to the Cancer Institute, provide clinical services to non-paying charity patients in the UP-PGH area, assume all associated costs of clinical manpower, drugs, and consumables; and undertake clinical teaching and research.
The first PPP initiative is part of the administration’s efforts to modernize the country’s health infrastructure on oncology services and cancer treatment, said Garafil.
