AI artwork, robot server, Laser Micro-coring: Vicki Belo, Hayden Kho Jr.’s Belo NEXA boasts of many Philippine firsts
MANILA, Philippines — Celebrity doctors Victoria “Vicki” Belo and Hayden Kho Jr. have a new baby!
Belo Medical Group’s new upscale concept, Belo NEXA, recently opened at the ground floor of One Ayala Mall in Makati City with a red carpet roll-out of its star-studded clientele, including Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach; actors Chie Filomeno, Max Collins, Rhian Ramos and Ruru Madrid; and celebrity siblings Raymond and Ruffa Gutierrez, to name a few.
“Belo NEXA is the first and only recognized medical tourism establishment in the whole Philippines,” Kho told Philstar.com in an exclusive interview during the new clinic’s opening.
“So what we want to do is to elevate the whole experience, offer something that has never been seen anywhere in the world. So we want to bring in medical tourists. Part of this is our accreditation, for example,” he said, citing certifications from agencies like the Department of Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
“NEXA means ‘next level.’ It’s a leap into the future,” he opined, “It’s in the nexus of all our innovations here at Belo. It symbolizes the level of our commitment to push the boundaries of what’s possible in medical aesthetics.”
“NEXA,” he explained, came from the abbreviations of prescription (RX), treatment (TX), Victoria (VX) and Hayden (EN).
“If you put together Victoria and Hayden, it’s VXEN,” which reads as “NEXA” upside-down, Kho enthused.
WATCH: Dr. Hayden Kho Jr. explains 'NEXA' meaning
What makes Belo NEXA different from their other clinics is its “elevated customer experience.”
“The moment when you enter the space, you’ll see that it’s very, very different. We paid attention to every single detail – the visuals, the artworks here, the scents – we created a custom scent. The music is very different – it’s very lively, very modern. We have coffee here that’s being served by a robot. We have Artificial Intelligence (AI) art. Even the linens and the beds – we elevated everything! We imported beds from Germany and linens from France. So we’re actually using the same beds and linens that are being used in luxury spas like Chanel, Dior,” Kho expounded.
The 780-square-meter space boasts of 12 treatment rooms, four surgical theaters and four recovery rooms – with every room having its own restroom.
“We want it to be bigger, but this is the only space that we can find at the heart of Makati,” said Kho, explaining that they chose to open the first NEXA in One Ayala since they believe in the vision of Ayala Corp. and its leadership under Mariana Zobel de Ayala and others.
“I think this will be the most bustling of all cities,” Kho said of Makati, “We believe that the pace in their (Ayala’s) renovating, their design, it’s more in-sync with what we want to achieve.”
Designed by Belo and Kho with help from Budji Layug and his team, NEXA’s design “concept is basically, we imagined what the future would look like. And we blended it with nature because we believe that in the future, people will long for nature and long to connect with organics and natural stuff,” Kho said.
Upon entering the clinic, guests are greeted by a giant AI artwork, which Kho noted, “is the first media art installation in the whole Philippines.”
“The robot that you see there is also the first of its kind in the Philippines. Many other firsts are here in Belo NEXA,” he vouched.
“All the artworks were imported from Russia, Spain, Europe, South Korea. The AI artwork keeps on changing. We’re talking to a lot of AI artists to provide artworks… so we’ll keep on changing our media artwork.”
WATCH: Doc Hayden on NEXA's AI artwork
Apart from the artwork, AI is used in the clinic for marketing and business intelligence.
“Of course, ChatGPT is very popular, we also use that if we want. So yes, we have adapted to AI.”
As for treatments, Belo's only AI treatment is Exion for skin tightening and body slimming, among others.
WATCH: Kho on Belo's AI use
Their surgical theaters, meanwhile, have been weaponized with “state-of-the-art,” “interconnected” technologies and equipment.
“Even the oxygen we use in our surgical theaters – we don’t use tanks anymore. We create our own oxygen… We’re the only establishment in the Philippines that produces our own oxygen for our surgical theaters. Even hospitals in the Philippines don’t produce their own oxygen… We invested in a machine that generates its own oxygen.”
According to Kho, among the benefits of having their own oxygen machine are, “We don’t have to bring in tanks. Tanks are messy and they run out. So in cases of emergency, what will you do?”
Apart from the space, the clinic presents a level-up in terms of staff and employees, he said.
“In Belo, I think we’re the only medical aesthetics establishment in the whole Philippines that has a five-day work week. And our working hours only start at 10 o’clock, to only 5 o’clock. So we really value work-life balance. We really want to keep all our medical practitioners here. We want to put all the best here in Belo so that when tourists come here in the Philippines, they will experience world-class Filipino hospitality,” he affirmed.
“As Filipinos, we have what it takes to excel in this field. We have an amazing hospitality industry. We’re really known for our hospitality and our warmth. In nursing and medical care, we are the most popular. Countries like Canada, Middle East and US, they try to get nurses, medical practitioners from the Philippines because we’re one of the best in the world. So the question is that why do we need to leave the country? We want them to come here for medical tourism.”
WATCH: Kho on Philippines' medical tourism potential
Among the procedures they are proud of in NEXA are ExoScalp Treatment, which Kho explained is a 360-degree scalp treatment to grow hair. He claimed Belo is also the only one in the country to offer Accure Acne Laser System, which destroys the oil that causes acne.
Q-Facial, meanwhile, is a “multi-modality treatment;” while Splendor X Laser is not only for unwanted hair removal, but is also for smoothening and whitening skin.
WATCH: What are Belo NEXA's treatments?
Of these, among the most popular in the clinic are ExoScalp and the Fotona Dynamis NX, a Laser Micro-coring technology that is exclusive to Belo and is the only one in the country, said Kho. It can remove little cores of tissue from the face and deep and shallow acne scars, Dr. Belo explained in an Instagram reel.
WATCH: Belo NEXA's best-selling services
Kho gave assurance of the treatments’ effectivity. The Accure Acne Laser System, for instance, can reportedly control acne for two years, “90% of the time,” he claimed.
As such, the clinic does not only aim to target older patients, but also adolescents and young adults experiencing mild to moderate acne and other skin problems.
By tapping a wider client spectrum, Kho estimated that the medical tourism market would account to “billions” worldwide. As such, the medical group eyes expanding not only in other cities and countries, but also in other areas of medical tourism.
“We want to expand into different territories. We want to expand into wellness, longevity, fertility, stem cell therapy, etc.,” Kho divulged.
WATCH: More Belo clinics to come?
“What we’re thinking is that we want to create the world’s best medical aesthetics center. Because this is our contribution to medical tourism. Our mission, goals, go beyond our core. It’s not only for Belo. That’s our vision: we really want to help to make the Philippines the medical tourism hub of Asia. We’re really pushing everything we can.” — Videos by Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardo; video editing by Martin Ramos
