A world-class hospital

If St. Luke’s Medical Center were in book, it would have to be "Robin Hood".

The country’s most profitable hospital does not make any excuse for charging its well-to-do patients an arm and a leg for its world-class doctors and facilities. Neither does it make any excuse for setting aside 10 percent of its annual gross earnings to maintain a charity ward that offers the same services to the poor.

In 2000, that 10 percent translated to P239 million, up from the previous year’s P200 million.

A second hospital

"Five years from now, we want to be recognized as one of the best medical institutions in the world," said Jose Ledesma, president and chief executive officer of St. Luke’s. Part of that corporate vision involves the setting up of another hospital in the Fort Bonifacio central business district to complement the existing hospital in Quezon City.

Last Friday, St. Luke’s signed a 50-year lease contract with Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. with an option to extend for another 25 years.

St. Luke’s-Global City is expected to be operational by about 2004. Planning and coming up with the final design, which will be done by a team of American designers specializing in healthcare or hospital design, will take about a year. It will take close to two years to construct the 10-storey, 530-bed hospital.

Although about the same size as the 640-bed hospital in Quezon City, the Makati hospital will have bigger rooms and suites to meet a wealthier and more discriminating market.

Rates, however, will be the standardized for the two hospitals.

St. Luke’s-Global City is expected to cost about P4 billion to P4.5 billion. About P500 million will be budgeted annually for new facilities. Most of the funds will be internally generated, with about 25 percent coming from borrowings.

Down and up

Slowly, Ledesma is making St. Luke’s corporate vision come true. After all, it already has the makings of a world-class hospital. A hospital network will just it easier to sell its healthcare services, first regionally and then worldwide.