GCMC expansion in Cabuyao backed by private firms

Regional healthcare provider Global Care Medical Center (GCMC) said its partnership with investment firm LeapFrog Investments and equity firm Navegar has secured growth capital to support the expansion of its Cabuyao facility.

“This is very promising. I have a lot of expansion here, a new medical arts building, a new private room, we expanded another 30 private rooms here in Cabuyao,” GCMC Chair Ricardo D. Celino told reporters in an interview on Tuesday.

“We’re going to put up a cat lab (Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory), we purchased an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), we put up another 20 chairs of dialysis, and we expanded our laboratory,” he added.

Apart from its expansion plans in Laguna, the GCMC also aims to improve healthcare services in other provinces in Northern Luzon, such as Pangasinan.

“I don’t want to divulge whatever investment we are planning because we are still looking for another, not just one, but there’s another opportunity in the northern part of Luzon,” Mr. Celino said.

Biju Mohandas, partner and global lead for healthcare at Leapfrog Investments, said that the firm’s first investment in the Philippines, through its partnership with the hospital network, reflects its confidence in the country’s economic growth.

“We are a fund, as I mentioned earlier, that money is our profit with purpose. This seems like a great opportunity to achieve both because there is a massive demand supply mismatch,” he said in a media briefing at the partnership launch.

“If you service it well, with good quality, with the right partners, then you will reap financial rewards as well, and importantly, touch millions of lives,” he added.

For Navegar Vice President for Origination Juan Carlos Camara, partnering with GCMC amplifies the firm’s push to create a more inclusive and accessible community. “I’d like to see its impact on the lives of Filipinos for not just the next few years, but decades and possibly touch the lives of the communities that we operate in.”

The Laguna-based hospital network currently operates four general hospitals and a specialized cancer care center, with a total capacity of over 300 licensed beds supported by 670 doctors. — Almira Louise S. Martinez