Photo: Manila Doctors Hospital

Since the inception and launching of its Social Vision in 2012, Manila Doctors Hospital has proven that profitability and investing significantly in social responsibility programs can be done harmoniously and productively.

2016 was definitely a breakthrough year for Manila Doctors Hospital in terms of business expansion as well as quantifiable actions for responsible corporate citizenship. Its 60th anniversary was celebrated by inaugurating a new tower designed to accommodate more patients and increase the number of technologically advanced medical and wellness services. This is one of the biggest expansions the organization has undertaken. 

Continuous improvement is one of our tools in ensuring excellence in service delivery. Manila Doctors Hospital successfully became the first private hospital in the Philippines to upgrade its ISO Accreditation from ISO 9001:2008 to 9001:2015. This signals a more focused risk-management system, effectively increasing safety levels implemented for the whole hospital, especially for its patients. 

Combining consistent action toward the fulfillment of our Social Vision with the unceasing commitment for improvement, Manila Doctors Hospital was able to accomplish its 2016 targets for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which it has been supporting since 2015.

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

Continuing our promise to implement inclusive health care programs, Manila Doctors Hospital extended quality medical services to twenty-four thousand four hundred fifty-one (24,451) financially challenged patients. The CSR Office implements seven health programs: (1) outpatient services, (2) in-patient services, (3) four in-house surgical projects, (4) external medical and surgical missions, (5) Community Health, (6) School Health, and (7) the Safe Mommy Project, which specifically focuses on maternal health.

Consultations, surgeries, diagnostic tests, and medicines were provided in collaboration with the whole internal community and in partnership with the members of our Corporate Social Responsibility Circle of Partners (CSRO Circle of Partners). Areas where access to quality healthcare is hard to reach or unavailable are identified by partners and prioritized in terms of funding and service provision. Persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples are organized to ensure that they are able to access the services being provided in every community where we implement the various health programs.

SDG 5: Gender Equality

We have continued our Men Caring for Women (MCW) resource-generation and advocacy program. Internally, the Human Resource Division, in collaboration with the Corporate Social Responsibility Office, has continued with its “Engendering the Workplace” efforts. In partnership with the Child Justice League – a nonprofit organization composed of volunteer lawyers who provide free legal services to abused women and children – a series of seminar workshops have been conducted in support of preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. Unlike in 2015, when the main focus of the engendering effort was the officers of the hospital, this time it was the non-supervisory staff. The goal is to capacitate the entire internal community in identifying inappropriate actions that are gender related. This is also part of our commitment to implement rights-based company policies. Manila Doctors Hospital considers itself a member of a bigger community and joined the 16 days of worldwide activism against gender-based violence through the “Orange the World” campaign. The internal community “went orange” and contributed to the social media drive.

SDG 13: Climate Action

One of our biggest CSR undertakings is our environmental commitment. For more than 10 years now, Manila Doctors Hospital has taken steps to reduce its carbon footprint, starting with energy utilization. Renewable energy is also being integrated into the hospital facility’s framework. The implementation of the hospital-wide recyclables program has already yielded millions of pesos for the various CSR programs of the hospital. In 2016, funds earned from hospital recyclables were allotted for two special projects. The first provides an alternative livelihood to augment the daily food sustenance of fisherfolk families in the province of Bohol, which has been affected by climate change. Bohol is located in the southern region of the country, where poverty and natural disasters are quite prevalent. The second project was to immediately send relief packages to victims of the two most destructive typhoons to hit the Philippine countryside. The devastation compelled the national government to declare a state of calamity in the provinces of Batanes and Kalinga. Solar lamps, food packs, blankets, medicines, and hygiene kits were immediately dispatched through our partners, who were stationed on site.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Partnerships are vital for Manila Doctors Hospital CSR Office to go beyond its immediate community and serve those who are in far-flung areas in need of medical care. They enable us to tackle the challenge of creating clean and green spaces in urban areas and execute our advocacy platform of educating the public about eliminating violence against women and children as well as human trafficking. The vigorous and consistent participation of volunteers from both our internal community and external partners has allowed us to expand our reach.

Our CSRO Circle of Partners is composed of companies with strong CSR programs; international and local humanitarian and development organizations; national agencies; and churches. The harmonization of collective actions leads to maximization of resources, resulting in an increase in service provision, the promotion of a higher level of accountability, and the avoidance of program replication.

Recognition from peers

For two consecutive years, Hospital Management Asia has recognized the collective efforts of the hospital and its partners by conferring the CSR Excellence award to Manila Doctors Hospital. In addition, Manila Doctors Hospital won its first International Hospital Federation award for Corporate Social Responsibility Excellence during the 40th World Hospital Congress in November 2016.