MakatiMed delivers
Back in 2019, in a bid to boost medical excellence in the field of liver transplantation in the country, the Makati Medical Center, also known as MakatiMed, one of the country’s premier medical and hospital care institutions, entered into agreement with Max Hospital’s ANG Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences, a pioneering liver center in New Delhi, India, to develop a state-of-the-art liver transplant program here in the Philippines.
MakatiMed was founded by renowned Filipino doctors and businessmen in 1969. It became part of Metro Pacific Investment Corp.’s (MPIC) group of hospitals (now Metro Pacific Health) in 2007, following MPIC’s investment in Medical Doctors, Inc., owner and operator of MakatiMed. Manuel V. Pangilinan has served as chairman of the board since then.
Max Hospital, on the other hand, is known to manage one of the busiest living donor liver transplant programs in the world. Their ANG Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences has already performed more than 2,700 liver transplants with success rates equivalent to the best centers in the world.
MakatiMed’s partnership with Max Hospital was made possible by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce Philippines Inc. (FICCI).
The two institutions collaborated on clinical education and training in liver transplantation, which involved MakatiMed physicians, nurses, and other medical staff.
This partnership was a milestone and the first of its kind between a Philippine hospital and a hospital in India.
Fast forward to today. First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos would want to advance a program to provide Filipino children with access to top-tier liver transplant care, as she recently met with Indian diplomats, business leaders, and leading doctors from the Max Hospital and the Apollo Hospital in India.
The project envisions sending Filipino children in need of urgent treatment to India’s top specialty hospitals.
In the long term, the initiative seeks to build local capacity by facilitating training and skills transfer for Filipino doctors, paving the way for the establishment of world-class pediatric liver transplant services in the Philippines.
The MVP Group fully supports this program of the First Lady, also because of the existing agreement between MakatiMed and Max Hospital.
If ever, it would be the Makati Medical Center Foundation, or MMC Foundation, that would play a key role in the program for the MVP Group.
The MMC Foundation was established in October 1992 as the official Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of MakatiMed.
It seeks to help deliver quality health care services through Public - Private Partnerships (PPPs) designed to organizationally strengthen partner public hospitals and to ensure health security towards nation-building, in support of the Universal Health Care Act (RA 11223) and the eight-point Action Agenda of the Department of Health (DOH) and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The MMC Foundation currently has several PPP programs such as the partnerships with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), medical and surgical missions, and the LAB FOR ALL project in partnership with DOH and the First Lady.
To date, over half a million patients have been served in the MakatiMed Foundation’s monthly surgical and medical missions that began some 40 years ago. These missions are conducted in partnership with various public-private sector partners and the MMC Health Service Department.
The current Foundation president is Dr. Victor Gisbert, M.D., while the executive director is Marge Macasaet Barro.
Manuel V. Pangilinan sits as chairman of the board of trustees.
Of course, when the MMC Foundation comes to mind, mention must also be made of its beloved vice chairperson, Judy Araneta Roxas, who passed away recently.
A member of the prominent Araneta clan of Cubao, she was the widow of Sen. Gerardo Roxas and the mother of my good friend, former senator, trade secretary, transportation secretary and local governments secretary Mar Roxas.
Tita Judy, or JAR, as she was fondly called, was one of the more powerful women in politics that never had a position in government, whether appointed or elected. She was firm and tough, but, at the same time, kind and with a loving heart. She will be dearly missed. *
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