Chong Hua hospital invests P100 million for carpark building

CEBU, Philippines - In its effort to position itself as a world-class medical institution, Chong Hua Hospital (CHH) will spend P100 million for the establishment of a 12-story parking facility.

CHH chief executive officer (CEO) Lim Liu announced that the hospital has started the ground works of the building construction, and this will provide additional 200 available car parking spaces equipped with car elevator facility.

Each floor of the car-park building will be connected to the new building to easily transport the patients.

Currently, the hospital has a total of 660 beds. Liu said CHH still has no immediate plans of going to expand on adding more bed capacity, although the hospital owner, the Association Benevola de Cebu also owns a 40-hectare lot in Consolacion, Cebu.

While Cebu still has to establish an integrated retirement village facility that will provide a world-class hospital within the community, CHH trustee Alfred Go said the board of directors have not yet thought of what to do with the 40-hectare idle property in northern part in Consolacion.

This time, Go said CHH has to focus on providing world-class service in order to put Cebu into the map as internationally-capable in terms of giving medical services.

Recently, CHH has gotten its Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, which made the hospital the first medical institution in Southern Philippines to get such accreditation, and third in the entire Philippines.

JCI is a body that accredits hospitals and health care providers outside the United States that have internationally standard services. This is also one of the requirements for a health care facility to officially accommodate medical tourists around the world.

JCIs accreditation assists international health care organizations; public health agencies, health ministries and others evaluate, improve and demonstrate the quality and safety of patient care in their nations.

Although CHH’s JCI accreditation is expected to boost Cebu’s medical tourism bid, Go said the primary target of the hospital is to accommodate first the Filipino patients.

It took CHH, almost three years in getting the international accreditation, because of JCI’s strict requirement and high standard. JCI standards set uniform, achievable expectations for structures, processes and outcomes for hospitals, medical transport organizations, clinical laboratories, ambulatory care centers, and organizations providing care continuum services.

The accreditation process is designed to accommodate specific legal, religious and cultural factors within country. To ensure their international applicability, JCI standards were developed by a 16-member international task force, representing seven major world regions: Western Europe, Middle East, Latin and Central America, Asia and the Pacific Rim, North America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.