MPIC to build largest private hospital in Zamboanga

MANILA, Philippines - The healthcare unit of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is set to build the largest private hospital in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, MPIC said its hospital investment arm Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI), through a newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary Metro Pacific Zamboanga Hospital Corp., signed last Friday a long term lease agreement with Western Mindanao Medical Center, a hospital with a 25-year history of service in Zamboanga.

MPIC said the lease agreement would include land, buildings and equipment of the hospital.

Likewise, MPIC said it would also operate the 110-bed Western Mindanao Medical Center which would be rebranded under the proposed name West Metro Medical Center.

“The effectivity of the lease and the official opening of West Metro Medical Center are subject to several conditions precedent, including fulfillment of certain regulatory requirements,” the conglomerate said.

MPIC said its hospital investment arm would install a new management team and would infuse capital to complete a four-storey annex building.

The annex building would increase the hospital’s capacity from 110 to 190 beds, making it the largest private hospital in the Zamboanga Peninsula, the conglomerate added.

West Metro Medical Center is set to become the 9th hospital in MPIC’s growing nationwide chain of private hospitals.

MPIC currently has the largest chain of private hospitals in the Philippines at 2,244 beds.

Last year, the Singapore Investment Corp. poured in P10.2 billion for shares and exchangeable bonds in MPHHI, marking the latter’s first Asean healthcare investment.

Other hospitals in the MPIC’s portfolio are Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital & Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Davao Doctors Hospital, Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod, and Central Luzon Doctors Hospital in Tarlac.

MPIC is the local unit of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and is into power distribution (Manila Electric Co.), water utility (Maynilad Water Services Inc.), toll roads (Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.) and healthcare (MPHHI).