METRO Pacific hospitals, which make up the country’s biggest private hospital group, have started vaccinating their workers, PLDT, Inc. said on Sunday.
“As of Friday, March 12, 2021, more than 13,000 workers in the Metro Pacific hospital group have received a vaccine for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019),” PLDT said in an e-mailed statement.
The largest hospitals operated by Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. (MPHHI) — Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, and Cardinal Santos Medical Center — have vaccinated the “majority” of their workers, it said, adding that MPHHI itself has also vaccinated more than 50% of its workforce.
Over 10,000 more workers are expected to be vaccinated by the hospital group.
MPHHI Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said: “There remain several formidable problems for our country to solve, whether it’s ensuring the health and well-being of our people, or sustaining the economy during such a turbulent period.”
“But the first step to solving many of them is the same: the successful rollout of safe and effective vaccines. We are the largest private hospital group in the Philippines, and it’s important for us to help the country’s vaccination drive as much as we can. And that begins with getting our hospital workers inoculated,” he added.
MPHHI operates 18 hospitals that are supported by two allied health colleges: Davao Doctors College in Davao City and Riverside College in Bacolod City.
Mr. Pangilinan, PLDT said, also initiated the storage of the initial 487,000 vials of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines and the 600,000 doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from China’s Sinovac.
The initiative was carried out through Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and its logistics unit MetroPac Movers, Inc.
“As the Philippines continues to move towards economic revival, it is in everybody’s best interest to protect as many Filipinos as possible from the virus. This additional batch of vaccines, this time from Oxford-AstraZeneca, is a great start,” Mr. Pangilinan said.
MPIC is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Arjay L. Balinbin
