One of the pioneer hospitals formally inaugurated its new Medical Arts Building last Tuesday, September 25, 2018, to underscore Cagayan de Oro City’s status as the Most Resilient City in the Philippines.
The Medical Arts Building is a building for doctors where they hold their clinics because in the old building everyone is having clinics at various locations of the hospital, “ said Dr. Dennis Edward Absin, pediatric neonatologist and member of the Cagayan de Oro Doctors, Inc. board of directors which owns and operates Madonna and Child Hospital. “We want our patients to have one place where they can go to for their outpatient services, that’s why we have this Medical Arts building.”
Absin said they were previously able to acquire a 2.3 hectare lot adjacent to Madonna which enabled them to undertake construction of the new six storey building
“We’re developing the vacated spaces as other centers for patient’s services like diagnostics, and we’re also planning to open commercial spaces in the hospital like stores and pharmacies, and we’re actually planning to put up a wellness center also,” he added.
The Medical Arts Building will have four floors of doctors’ clinics and two floors of patients’ rooms with enhanced facilities for higher end rooms. Other spaces in the ground floor have been allocated for an Eye Center and the Akbay Stroke Care and Neurological Rehabilitation Center.
Dr. Miguel E. Kho, Madonna & Child Hospital Medical Director, recalls their humble beginnings some 42 years ago.
Dr. Leticia Bautista & Vice Mayor Kikang Uy cuts the ribbon for Madonna & Child Hospital’s Medical Arts Bldg Sept. 25, 2018 as Dr. Lucille Romblon assists and Dr. Miguel Kho looks on. (photo by Mike Baños)
Cagayan de Oro Doctors Incorporated was founded in 1976 by 11 specialist consultants and seven non-medical investors. With about 80 medical and auxiliary employees and a 3,100 sq. m. lot, the new facility started with a 2-storey, 50-bed structure classified as a Special Hospital for maternity and children’s hospital.
“It was the start of a long, arduous journey, financially foremost, but with persistence, perseverance and determination, we pulled through,” Dr. Kho reflected.
“Slowly and steadily, with the firm and unwavering support of all our stockholders, our consultants and our employees, we painstakingly built up our resources,” he added.
The original one storey building was expanded and bought up surrounding properties whenever opportunities presented themselves. More consultants and investors were invited to join the team and more personnel hired to man the new facilities.
“From the original 11 consultants, we now have about 55 consultants of different specialties holding offices as well as about 30 visiting consultants. From seven, we now have several non-medical investors. From about 80, we now have about 300 employees, who support us and our patients,” Dr. Kho noted.
“From two storeys we have risen to six floors. From one building, we now have three. From 50 beds, officially, we now have 105. And from a Special Hospital, Madonna and Child Hospital is now, as of two years ago, a General Hospital. Since the change, our revenue has improved,” he added with pride.
Kho said the constant upgrading of medical facilities in all departments and improvement of service delivery is always an ongoing project. Even adverse events were turned into opportunities for improvement. When floodwaters damaged the hospitals 16-slice CT scan, it was replaced with a new 64-slice model and a Philips ultrasound EPIC 7.
At present, the hospital is undertaking the expansion of its parking area and the construction of a commercial complex right across the hospital.
“We look to this new medical arts building as the beginning of an era of growth and innovation,” said Dr. Lucille T. Romblon, treasurer and board member in her closing remarks.
“We are growing beyond just taking care of mother and child, as perhaps we should — so that we can serve more patients and open our doors to everyone. But we will always nurture the spirit, the sense of family, the sense of home that Madonna has always been to generations of patients who have been coming here as babies and who continue to come, now as parents with their own children.”
“Many of the faces they saw as children are the same faces that are still here — because at the heart of this institution, is a family. We will however, innovate and grow, keep pace with the times, continually improve not just to remain competitive from a business standpoint, but also to continue to set the standard, as the name Madonna and Child Hospital has always been a standard bearer.”
“Thank you to the different doctors for choosing to be part of Madonna, because Madonna would not be Madonna without the unique services each of you bring to it. And thank you also to the doctors for the various contributions — big and small, tangible and intangible, that they have made towards the completion of this new beautiful building whether in terms of art or ideas or time;—– all those who have spent late or perhaps sleepless nights to see this come to fruition. Thank you of course to our indefatigable medical director, Dr. Miguel Kho.”
Executive Officers from other hospitals including CDO Medical Center’s Dr. Francisco Oh & Ms. Rosalinda Deleste of CU Medical City joined the inauguration.
“Finally and most especially, thank you to our staff — admin, maintenance and utility personnel, Letlet, — for the time and energy you have put into the planning and preparation for this event. All this would not have been possible without your dedication, your commitment and ultimately your love for Madonna,” she added.
“We have come a very long way these past 42 years. And our journey has been what it has been because we were all in it together – the consultants, the investors and the employees of Madonna and Child Hospital,” echoed Dr. Kho.
“In 1976, we began to reach and seek and look and dream. And we grew and went and saw and became. It is 2018. We are still reaching, and seeking, and looking and dreaming. Together let us grow, and go and see and be.”
“Only as high as we reach can we grow; only as far as we seek can we go; only as deep as we look can we see, and only as much as we dream can we be.”
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