ST. LUKE'S MEDICAL CENTER TO RISE IN FORT BONIFACIO
May 2006
MANILA STAR
By Edu Punay

The state-of-the-art hospital of St. Luke?s Medical Center (SLMC) will soon to rise at the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo said the new institution would help boost the economy as it will provide more than 2,500 new jobs for non-medical staff apart from the doctors and other healthcare professionals who would be hired. "We should be happy that we will have another good hospital in the country," the First Gentleman said.

The P6.5-billion medical institution will be operational by 2008 and is expected to set another milestone in Philippine healthcare, according to SLMC officials.

The new SLMC, occupying around 1.6 hectares of land, will have a 14-story building with more than a 600-bed capacity. A parking lot to be constructed will accommodate more than 1,400 vehicles. The hospital building would also have a helipad wide enough for a UH-1H helicopter to land.

And just like the SLMC in Quezon City, a planned Medical Arts Building would offer centers of excellence in various medical fields.

SLMC medical director and senior vice president for medical affairs Joven Cuanang assured the public that they "can expect the institution to duplicate the services it offers in its Quezon City hospital."

"It will be as well-equipped as the first one," he said.

Cuanang maintained SLMC has kept its reputation as having the "most advanced hospital in the country in terms of medical equipment and technology, range of services, professional expertise, patient care quality, customer service and medical research."

And we "take the opportunity of having the SLMC at the heart of the rising commercial district to serve the community through our social service programs," he added.

When asked how SLMC would compete with the nearby Makati Medical Center, Cuanang said, "We offer the best services and will just let the people choose."

The SLMC has passed international standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations of the United States, the most prestigious accrediting organization in the world today.

Only five hospitals in the entire Asia have earned this elusive award, SLMC said.

In 2001, SLMC became an international affiliate of top American hospitals such as New York Presbyterian Hospital and New York?s two Ivy League medical schools ? Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

SLMC said it prides itself on having the best medical doctors in the country who have been trained locally and abroad by world-renowned specialists.