AYALA Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (AC Health) is working with a cancer treatment company for its plan to build the country’s first cancer specialty hospital in Taguig City.
In a statement on Tuesday, AC Health said it recently signed a strategic partnership with Cancer Treatment Services International, Inc. (CTSI), an oncology services provider under US-based Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
The partnership is expected to help AC Health in its cancer hospital project, which will build 100 beds in a comprehensive cancer facility to be located in the FTI Complex in Taguig City.
“We are delighted to partner with CTSI to bring much-needed affordable quality cancer care services to more Filipinos… By bringing together our local knowledge and AC Health’s network, with CTSI’s operational and clinical expertise, we have the unique opportunity to redefine cancer care in the Philippines,” AC Health Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in the statement.
AC Health had previously said it is investing P2 billion to build a cancer hospital that would have diagnostic equipment, chemotherapy facilities, linear accelerators for advanced radiation therapy and operating rooms for specialist surgeons.
This cancer hospital is envisioned to be an integral pillar of our integrated healthcare ecosystem. With this hospital as our future referral hub, our network of Healthway specialty and family clinics can provide cancer screening programs, while our pharma companies, IE Medica and MedEthix, can source more affordable cancer medicines for our patients,” AC Health President and CEO Paolo Maximo F. Borromeo said.
AC Health is the healthcare unit of Ayala Corp., which also has businesses in real estate, banking, telecommunications and utility, among others.
The conglomerate reported earnings of P7.9 billion in the first half of 2020, down 79% from a year ago, due to loan loss provisions, suspended mall operations, and one-time gains in 2019. Its shares fell P13 or 1.70% to P750 each on Tuesday. — Denise A. Valdez
