DBP lends P481 million for cancer treatment hub in Laguna

MANILA, Philippines — The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has extended a P481-million loan to finance the construction of a cancer treatment hub in Southern Luzon.

In a statement, DBP president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Herbosa said the state-run bank has signed a term-loan agreement with Global Care Cancer Institute Inc. (GCCII) for the establishment of the cancer facility in Bay, Laguna.

Herbosa said the financing was granted under the DBP Strategic Healthcare Investment for Enhanced Lending and Development (SHIELD) program, which aims to improve the delivery of quality health care services in the country.

“DBP is one with GCCII in its mission to deliver better and affordable cancer treatment to our countrymen in Southern Luzon,” Herbosa said.

SHIELD is a specially designed program that provides funding support to hospitals, laboratories, diagnostic centers, clinics and primary care providers for the construction or acquisition of health care facilities and equipment.

As of June 2020, the program has already provided a total of P11.07 billion in loans to 89 borrowers in various parts of the country.

Under this particular loan agreement, Herbosa said the DBP would help build GCCII’s three-story hospital building that would cater to the health care requirements of residents in South Luzon, particularly those in Laguna, Quezon and Bicol.

Herbosa said GCCII’s facility is envisioned to be a nuclear medicine hub in the region and would be manned by trained professionals with extensive training in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine from different institutions.

“In this extraordinary time where we gear up for a certain level of normalcy, DBP vows to continue its support to developmental initiatives that would intensify the delivery of improved quality health services for every Filipino,” Herbosa said.

As the seventh largest bank in the country in terms of assets, DBP provides credit support to four strategic sectors, namely the infrastructure and logistics, MSMEs, social services and community development, and the environment.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Herbosa said earlier DBP was still able to increase its lending activities in the first half of the year, with P364.4 billion in total loans extended. This was 15.6 percent higher than the P315.13 billion recorded in the same period last year.