Makati Medical Center not bankrupt

The Makati Medical Center (MMC) is not bankrupt but the hospital definitely has serious financial problems.

This was the reason why the hospital management had to retrench some 300 employees from clerks to department heads.

The MMC management explained to the members of the Makati Medical Center Employees Association (MAMACEA) in a dialogue last Friday that the retrenchment was part of the scheme to lower MMC’s salary expenses as the hospital now has bank debts amounting to P1.2 billion.

MAMACEA president Willy Pulia, in an interview with The STAR, said MMC executives led by its president Gavino Mendoza detailed the hospital’s financial woes in an effort to convince the union that they have no choice but to lay-off workers.

Pulia said the hospital owes banks some P1.2 billion and has to pay P300 million for debt payments and another P211 million in interest expense.

The union was also told that MMC incurred loses amounting to P155 million due to the rise in the peso-euro exchange rate.

Officials noted that the MMC had spent P465 million for employees’ salaries and other benefits in 2004.

Further aggravating the MMC’s financial problems is the low occupancy rate of 53 to 69 percent, which is way below the 70 percent target.

"We will verify all this data presented to us," Pulia told The STAR after the meeting which was attended by Association of Filipino Workers (AFW) national president Lito Calderon.

Pulia said the hospital’s problems seem to justify the need to do something but the union also has to help its members .

"We need to prevent further losses so that the ship won’t sink or at the end and will everybody will suffer," he said in support of efforts to turn the MMC’s financial status around and bring it back on its feet.

However, he noted that they still have proposals which they want the hospital to consider and which will be tackled in another meeting to be held this week.