Manila Standard Today, 29 January 2013
he modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center under the build-operate–and-transfer scheme drew the interest of nine prospective bidders, who attended the pre-bid conference staged by the Health Department Monday at the Lung Center of the Philippines.
The Finance Department said the prospective bidders included big names in the infrastructure and health care industry, but it declined to name them. The modernization aims to upgrade the medical and related infrastructure facilities of the 68-year-old orthopedic center.
Under the BOT scheme, the private sector partner will build a state-of-the-art, center of excellence for orthopedics and manage the entire clinical services, as well as the other hard and soft service operations of the improved center. Finance said the government would retain full ownership of the center using the financial resources and technical expertise of the private sector.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona said with the positive response of the private sector to team up with the government in the implementation of the universal health care, equity in access to health care delivery was not far-fetched.
The government is offering the project through a BOT contractual arrangement over a period of 25 years, including construction. Under the proposed arrangement, the winning bidder will build, finance and operate the center and transfer it to the DoH after the end of the contract.
The winning bidder is required to reserve 420 beds exclusively for Philhealth-sponsored patients under the ‘no balance billing’ scheme and 70 beds for indigent patients.
The lowest economic 25 percent of the population is expected to benefit the most from the project. “Most of the poor go to government-run health facilities in their time of need and they deserve no less than the best care from these public facilities,” Health Undersecretary Ted Herbosa said.
Finance said Health signed a confidentiality agreement with prospective bidders. The government assured there would be no collusion between the bidders that could undermine the integrity of the auction.
