MPIC, Megawide, 7 others interested in Orthopedic Center PPP

Nine firms have so far expressed interest in bidding for the multi-billion-peso project to build and operate the new Philippine Orthopedic Center under the government’s flagship infrastructure program. “Nine firms have expressed interest in bidding for the project during the pre-bid conference last Friday,” Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa said in a phone interview Monday, referring to the P5.6-billion project to modernize the country's orthopedic center. According to Herbosa, who heads the Department of Health's PPP initiatives, the firms are:

• Metro Pacific Investments Corp.;
• Megawide Engineering Excellence and the Strategic Alliance Holding Inc.;
• Siemens, Inc. Healthcare Sector;
• GE Health Care General Electric Phil. Inc.;
• Sta. Clara International Corp.;
• Mount Grace Hospital Ventures;
• Philips Electronic and Lighting Inc.; and  
• Data Trail Corp.

The Health official noted that prospective bidders have until February 25 to buy bid documents. The deadline for submission is on March 21 and awarding will be be held after the election in May. “We want the groundbreaking of the project in December,” Herbosa said. The Orthopedic Center PPP – approved by President Benigno S.C. Aquino on Sept. 8 – involves the construction as well as operations and maintenance (O&M) of a new 700-bed-capacity tertiary orthopedic hospital in the National Kidney and Transplant Institute compound in Quezon City. It is a 25-year contract with construction is expected to take two and a half years, and the remaining 22.5 years allotted for O&M. Herbosa, meanwhile, clarified that the PPP initiative “does not aim to privatize” hospitals  rather a scheme tapping the private sector to help government hospitals provide quality health care they were mandated to   “Under the provisions of the bid documents, the winning bidder is required to reserve 420 beds exclusively for [state-insurer's] PhilHealth-sponsored patients under the ‘no balance billing’ scheme and 70 beds for indigent patients,” a statement released Monday read. “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,” Herbosa was quoted as saying in the statement. The Orthopedic Center PPP is one of eight PPP projects are in advanced stages of bidding. Only two PPP projects have so far been awarded since the program was unveiled in November 2010. The first was the P1.96-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway Link Road project awarded to Ayala Corp. in December 2011. The PSIP Phase 1 – which involves the design, finance and construction of about 9,300 classrooms in four regions in Luzon – is the second PPP project to be awarded by the Aquino administration.   The P16.5-billion project was won by the combined groups of BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp. and Citicore Investments Holdings Inc.-Megawide Construction Corp. last September. — BM, GMA News