There’s a saying that goes: “Never light a fire you cannot put out.”
It all started with a social media post by controversial journalist Maria Ressa of Rappler hinting a Davao hospital is getting more from PhilHealth than the UP-Philippine General Hospital in Manila.
That smoke Ressa tried to fan became a fire she cannot put out.
The reference of a Davao hospital compared to Manila’s PGH opened a virtual floodgate to an avalanche of information about the “Davao hospital” which turned out to be Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), the hospital with the biggest bed capacity in the country and serves a clientele embracing the islands of Mindanao and even some from the Visayas and Luzon.
Call it providential. The torrent of SPMC filled everyone’s curiosity more than one can ever get from Google. The trivialities of “a Davao hospital” must have sunk Ressa and her ilk to some rude awakening.
And so we take a close look at the Davao hospital which turns out to be in all modesty, the “Mega Hospital of the Philippines.”
Located in one of the largest cities in the world, SPMC serves not only millions of Mindanaoans but also patients from Visayas and Luzon.
Based on the volume of patients being treated per day — admission, outpatient (OPD), and emergency — SPMC truly deserves to be called the “mega hospital in the Philippines.”
Let us count the ways.
According to Dr. Ricardo Audan, chief of clinics and Health Emergency Management Bureau (HEMB) of SPMC, the annual admission per year per day at SPMC: 65,892 patients admitted in 2014; 67,845 patients in 2015; 75,004 patients in 2016; 76,343 patients in 2017; 76,462 patients in 2018; and 76,561 patients admitted in 2019.
For OPD, a total of 261,516 patients with an average of 1,063 patients were seen per day in 2014; 315, 480 with an average of 1,298 per day in 2015 ; 376, 435 with an average of 1,549 per day in 2016; 445, 000 with an average of 1,700 per day in 2017; 497, 948 with an average of 2,058 per day in 2018; and 585, 912 with an average of 2,491 patients were seen per day in 2019.
For emergency, a total of 117,707 patients with an average of 322 were seen per day in 2014; 126,872 patients with an average of 348 per day in 2015; 150,019 with an average of 412 per day in 2016 ; 159, 528 with an average of 437 per day in 2017; 160,000 with an average of 440 per day in 2018; and 167, 683 with an average of 459 patients were seen per day in 2019.
Mega hospital
SPMC did not earn the name “mega hospital in the Philippines” if it’s not a damn good tertiary hospital. People from all walks of life come to SPMC to seek medical treatment.
“Ginapag-hambog gyud nato nga ang SPMC is for Davao City and entire Mindanao. But surprisingly naa mi mga pasyente gikan sa Visayas even Luzon and this has something to do with our heart operation and kidney transplant services,” Audan said.
SPMC houses modern and state-of-the-art 13 medical structures sprawling in the 12.8 hectares hospital property.
Established in 1917, SPMC is being considered the biggest public tertiary hospital in the Philippines in terms of bed capacity. It is a 1,500-bed hospital with almost 3,600 personnel.
Through Republic Act No 11326, SPMC was authorized to increase its bed capacity to 1,500 surpassing that of the Philippine General Hospital’s (PGH’s) 1,200 beds-this is based on the research of Audan.
SPMC (formerly Davao Public Hospital), is not a rundown institution serving the poor as its main clientele.
The humble hospital boasts of its several integrated specialty buildings which are stand-alone like the Heart Institute, Institute for Women and Newborn Care, Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Institute, Cancer Institute, Intensive Care Complex, main hospital for general medicine and surgery.
SPMC also has the biggest hemodialysis capacity with 65 dialysis chairs.
The other buildings are Main Building (three floors), Medical Arts Building (seven floors), Central ICU Building (five floors) Children Institute (five floors), Kidney Transplant Institute (five floors), Trauma Complex (four floors), Institute for Women’s Health and Newborn (four floors), Orthopedic and Rehab Institute (four floors), OPD Building (four floors), Mindanao Heart Center (three floors), Cancer Institute (main three floors) and (two floors extension), and Isolation Facility Building (two floors).
In 2019 SPMC opened the heart surgery facility and now caters patients coming from the National Capital Region (NCR), Quezon Province, Iloilo City, Bohol, Leyte, Negros Occidental, Zamboanga City, Pagadian City, Iligan City, Camiguin, Bukidnon, and Cagayan de Oro City.
For the kidney transplant, SPMC caters to patients even from Manila, Cebu City, Agusan, and Bukidnon.
Covid-19 facility in Mindanao
SPMC is the first hospital allowed to accept Covid-19 patients in Davao City as the main receiving center for confirmed patients in the entire Mindanao. It is also the first Covid-19 laboratory performing confirmatory tests for the entire Mindanao.
Davao Region’s first case of Covid-19 was confirmed by the regional office of the Department of Health (DOH 11) on March 15, 2020. It was a 21-year-old female resident of Pantukan, Davao de Oro who had a travel history to the United Kingdom and Manila. The patient arrived in Davao City on February 29, 2020 and was placed in isolation at a health facility on March 9, 2020 after undergoing consultation for a cough.
By March 31, 2020, SPMC has been certified by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) to independently conduct COVID-19 confirmatory tests. The hospital was identified as Covid-19 dedicated health facility to help relieve private hospitals in the region so that they could still cater to patients with non-Covid-19 concerns.
House of Hope
SPMC is also well-loved because of House of Hope, which houses children with cancer.
It is a temporary home for children with cancer through a project of the Rotary Club of Waling-Waling Davao and in coordination with the Davao Children’s Cancer Fund Inc. It has served about 5,000 children and caregivers since its inauguration in August 2007. House of Hope decreased treatment abandonment and provided a clean and healing environment for children with cancer.
Training ground
Because of the volume of patients and the services and specialties it provides, SPMC has become the training ground for medical practitioners.
Aside from improving profession, one could also test his/her patience and humility as SPMC is a microcosm of different kinds of people from all walks of life.
SPMC also recruits dedicated and highly qualified personnel in the topmost positions who are able to take charge and steer the hospital in the right direction.
SMPC gets highly qualified and experienced doctors and medical staff that ensure patients receive the best care and treatment. Before the demand for top-notch healthcare facilities started rising, SPMC was already ahead of them. It is the largest hospital in the country that offers high-quality healthcare services embodying its purpose of improving the health care of Davao and Mindanao.
Having ticked all the boxes on why it deserves a generous share of funding, SPMC should by now be properly introduced especially to those who didn’t know.
