The billionaire tycoon made this announcement Monday afternoon during the launch of the conglomerate’s mWell online platform which, among others, offers wearable digital devices and trackers which are connected to the firm’s database for more accurate and timely monitoring of clients’ health metrics.
“We’re now on our 24th hospital and growing each year,” Pangilinan said. “The target for Augie (Palisoc, the president of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings) over the next two years.”
The Metro Pacific chief noted, however, that such an aggressive goal, once achieve, will still just be “a drop in the bucket” compared to the aggregate number of hospitals in the country.
“We have about 2,000 hospitals [in the Philippines, so we are only about 1.2% that number, [but] that’s bigger in terms of revenues and bigger in terms of beds in service,” he said. “But still, that's not enough to be able to adequately cover the healthcare requirements of our people.”
This imbalance between the demand for healthcare services int he Philippines and the demand for it among over 100 million Filipinas is why the conglomerate decided to rely heavily on technology in order to enlarge the reach of its hospital services, Pangilinan explained.
He pointed out that the group’s aggressive expansion also means the creation of more employment opportunities for doctors and nurses, a significant number of whom regularly leave the country to pursue better earning opportunities overseas.
“So mWell is the answer,” he said. “It was launched about two years ago, headed by Chaye (Cabal-Revilla) and she's done a great job in terms of propagating the kinds of services that our people need and will be looking forward to.”
Senior Reporter
