More than 160 representatives from 64 local and foreign private companies expressed their intent last month to build the UP Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Cancer Center, a P6.05-billion public-private partnership project that UP will implement.

Last February 2, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) greenlighted the construction of UP PGH Cancer Center, the first public-private partnership (PPP) program approved under the Marcos administration.

The project will be a 30-year build-transfer-operate (BTO) scheme. The center will house 300 beds, 150 of which are for indigent patients while the other half is for paying clients. The medical and health allied students of UP Manila (UPM) will still be allowed in both wings for classes.

The cancer center, which will be a 15 to 20-storey building, will occupy 3,000 square meters of UPM’s campus area and will have three bunkers for linear accelerators, and medical equipment used for cancer radiation therapy. A third of the center’s space is reserved for commercial purposes that will be controlled by the partner private firm.

Under the 2022 implementing rules and regulations of the PPP Law, a private firm is allowed to take on projects that are usually handled by the government such as hospitals and schools. Once the infrastructure is done, the property is transferred to the implementing agency, in this case, UP. The private firm will continue to operate and control the revenue of the facility for 30 years.

The cancer center project is now up for public bidding, with the winning contractor expected to build the facilities, including the purchase and maintenance of hospital equipment. The concession agreement is expected to be signed early next year.

“To set the record straight, there will be no privatization of PGH services. The government shall own the entire facility and PGH shall continue to operate as a public hospital,” NEDA Director-General Arsenio Balicasan claimed in a press conference on February 3.

However, the project brief outlined three revenue sources for the private partner, including 30 annual payments from the government, commercial activities, and payments from patients in the private wing. This would mean that the cancer center will partially operate with a private unit despite PGH’s status as a public tertiary hospital.

In a statement of concern, the All UP Workers Union (AUPWU) said that while there is a need to improve cancer care in PGH, the mode of funding will only mirror the government's policy of turning to the private sector in providing basic social services.

“Often, records would show that our government failed to uphold the rights and interests of our people because our political leaders and public officials are always seen as beneficiaries,” the union wrote to the UP Board of Regents, which discussed the PPP project in its meeting last April 3.

Currently, a chemotherapy session costs from P20,000 to P120,000 even in public hospitals, but private firm management will have control over the price settings of health services, posing a possibility of an increase in fees.

PGH said the institute is planned to meet the current demand and the expected influx of cancer patients. It handles an average of 70,000 cancer outpatients per year, as of last month. This number will only increase as patients resume chemotherapies after the pandemic, said PGH Cancer Institute Chair Jorge Ignacio.

In 2020, the UP administration sought the government’s support in the project with the cancer center which was originally priced at P4.58 billion, along with the P21.3-million PGH Diliman. Both projects were originally planned to be kickstarted during former UP President Danilo Concepcion’s tenure.

UP said that the project will “develop a precedent” for PPP projects in the health sector to keep up with the booming population. The proposed hospitals will also become models for other state universities and colleges in the region on health infrastructure.

But instead of leaving health care services in the hands of private firms, the AUPWU urged the UP administration to continue to “supply medical service and medical assistance gratuitously to poor persons” in light of the costly cancer care in the country. ●