Metro Pacific Hospitals Unveil Home Care Options For Patients

Metro Pacific Hospitals, the largest hospital group in the country, has come up with an innovative way of delivering home medical care to those in need as it addresses the concerns of patients who are trapped in their respective homes due to the prevalence of the Delta variant of the pandemic.

Photo Insert: Metro Pacific Hospitals home care options. Because home is where the hospital needs to be during emergencies and a pandemic.

The home care services that Metro Pacific conceptualized arose from the needs of patients who need to consult their doctors or be assured of their present medical conditions but who are afraid to go to hospitals due to the fear of catching COVID-19.

Staying healthy during the pandemic and getting one's needed medical attention, has become more difficult these days. In the past 6 weeks, patients end up lining up in their cars in the parking lot or are told to go back home to be waitlisted. Doctors’ clinics are also limiting the number of patients they are willing to see, prioritizing urgent cases only. And, most of all, especially if the ailment is not COVID-related, patients think twice to go near a hospital for fear of getting infected.

In light of these challenges, the Metro Pacific Group came up with its home care service concerning the medical needs of patients by promoting their homecare services, telling patients “Don’t delay consulting your doctor. There are now options to get immediate medical advice.”

These homecare services are teleconsultations and blood extractions for laboratory tests, and depending on your location, RT-PCR testing, mobile X-ray, physical therapy rehab, and vaccinations, etc.

“Remote Home Care services have enabled our hospitals to better cope with the current COI surges by allowing the treatment of mild and moderate patients in the comfort of their homes, instead of waiting and clogging hospitals’ ERs ‘just in case’ they become worse. This allows our hospitals and doctors to allocate limited COVID beds/facilities/resources based on medical need, i.e. for severe and critical cases.” says Metro Pacific Hospital Group CEO Augie Palisoc Jr.

Take the case of Patient X, a senior citizen living with his young son and locking himself up at home during this whole pandemic. One night, he noticed his son coughing during dinner at home but was otherwise well and readily dismissed that as one of his son’s usual allergic reactions. After a few days, he experienced body aches and attributed it to over-exercising the day before. When he developed a fever after a week, that was the only time he called a doctor friend. He was advised to go for a swab. “But why?” he objected. “I don’t have any cough or difficulty breathing!” Of course, he did not want to go to the hospital for fear of contracting COVID. Fortunately, Cardinal Santos Medical Center had a service van going to homes called “Cardinal-on-Wheels”.

That same morning, a Cardinal Santos medical technologist was at his home, swabbed him, and extracted several test tubes of blood for testing. Results within the day came out positive and his doctor asked him to proceed to the ER for further testing including a CT scan. Eventually, he was admitted to the hospital for COVID-pneumonia.

“For our own sake and for those around us, it is very important that we do not dismiss mild symptoms such as body aches, sore throat, or slight fever nowadays,” said Dr. Saturnino Javier, Chief Medical Officer of Makati Med.

“COVID-19 can be present with minimal or even no symptoms at all. Early recognition and subsequent management guided by medical personnel, even through home care services or via teleconsultations, can alter the course of this vicious infection - especially for the elderly and those with co-morbidities like hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and immunocompromised states."

Consider the inspiring story of Patient J, a Complex Wound Care patient of Sacred Heart Hospital of Malolos. “Sinuggest ng doctor na dapat araw-araw ang pag-linis at pag-gamot ng sugat ko. Natuwa naman ako dahil mayroon din na home service ang Sacred Heart.” Patient J tearfully recalls the life-changing care she received from SacredHeart@Home, the Sacred Heart Hospital of Malolos’ home service.

This was indeed very welcome news to her after she was advised that her foot needed amputation after a harrowing two-month confinement at another hospital. After being thoroughly cared for by her Vascular Surgeon, Patient J saw immediate improvements, eventually saving her limb. “Malayo ang bahay ko sa ospital kaya naman ako ay nag avail ng home service. Mula sa araw-araw, naging three to two times a week, at ngayon, once-a-week na lang. Salamat sa inyo; nakakatayo na ako at nakabalik na sa trabaho. Naibsan ang lungkot at depresyon ko.”

The above are just a few of the many stories of lives saved and patients cared for remotely by Metro Pacific hospitals. In the recent surges of 2021 alone, about 40,000 covid patients were tested, treated, and/or monitored remotely, patients who would have otherwise had to endure the long queues just to enter the Emergency Rooms of the hospitals.

Almost 20,000 more non-covid patients were tested and treated without having to visit the hospitals. Instead of turning patients away due to the hospitals’ full capacity, Metro Pacific hospitals have extended their reach and expanded their service offerings, all in the spirit of making quality healthcare more accessible and safe for patients, especially during crisis times like these.

Metro Pacific Hospitals is the largest private hospital chain in the Philippines, with 18 hospitals nationwide: Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Manila Doctors Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, De Los Santos Medical Center, Marikina Valley Medical Center, and Delgado Memorial in Metro Manila. Central Luzon Doctors Hospital, Sacred Heart Hospital of Malolos, Calamba Medical Center, and Los Baños Doctors Hospital in Luzon. Riverside Medical Center and Ramiro Community Hospital in the Visayas. Davao Doctors Hospital, St. Elizabeth Hospital, West Metro Medical Center, and Manuel J. Santos Hospital in Mindanao.

Metro Pacific’s network of 18 hospitals in the Philippines is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being, particularly Target 3.3. By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases, and other communicable diseases.

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