Medical Tourism in the Philippines - Philippine Institute for ...

Cardinal Santos San Juan City P 1974 235 - COEManila Doctors Ermita, Manila P 1956 300 AC; ISO COEUST Hospital Espana, Manila P 1945 800 - -Makati Medical Makati City P 1969 570 JCI, ISO 27 COESt. Luke’s Global City Taguig City p 190328600 29 JCI 30 COEAsian HospitalMuntinlupa P 2002 217 31 JCI COECityLas Pinas Doctors Las Pinas City P 1982 100 - -Paranaque Doctors Paranaque City P 2007 99 - -St. Frances Cabrini Sto. Tomas, P 1998 220 - COEBatangasCebu Doctors Cebu City P 1974 300 Trent COEChong Hua Cebu City P 1957 660 JCI COEPerpetual Succour Cebu City P 1950 250 Trent COEDavao Doctors Davao City P 1969 250 ISO -Grand Total - - - 6,051 11 14Sources: PMTP; HealthCORE (2011) profiles; Websites of NKTI, St. Luke’s Global City, St. Frances Cabrini, Perpetual Succor, etc.Other hospitals and clinics are also involved in medical tourism aside from the 21 formallyidentified in the PMTP and these are shown in Table 12. However, it appears from cursory search in theInternet that the government (DOT/DOH) accreditation process has moved very slowly relative to thenumber of clinics advertising themselves as potential tourist destinations. Many of the original 21hospitals targeted for medical tourism have not received DOT accreditation; only The Medical City andSt. Frances Cabrini Hospital have done so.Indeed, it is possible that the DOT medical tourism accreditation is seen by providers as justanother bureaucratic bottleneck as there are already existing accreditation systems for health care inthe Philippines (PhilHealth, PCAHO, ongoing ISQua/HealthCORE), including international ones that carrymore weight (JCI, Accreditation Canada, ISO, Trent). What the government should be doing moreusefully is to assist local hospitals and clinics get international accreditation, rather than impose yetanother set of local accreditation that is just merely duplicative. In any case, the signaling mechanismthat the DOT/DOH accreditation system is supposed to provide does not seem to work anyway as it isextremely difficult to get the list of these accredited facilities, and it does not convey enoughinformation to the potential medical tourist.27 Specific departments28 Year of establishment of mother hospital, St. Luke’s Quezon City29 Its profile in Medical Tourism cites 650 beds.30 Same accreditation as St. Luke’s Quezon City.31 Its profile in Medical Tourism cites 230 beds.22