DBP funds Southern Luzon cancer treatment facility

State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has signed a P481-million term loan agreement with Global Care Cancer Institute, Inc. (GCCII) to finance the construction of a three-storey cancer treatment facility in Bay, Laguna, a top official said.

DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said that the financing was granted under the DBP Strategic Healthcare Investment for Enhanced Lending & Development (SHIELD) program which aims to improve the delivery of quality health care services in the country.

“DBP is one with GCCII in its mission to deliver better and affordable cancer treatment to our countrymen in Southern Luzon,” Herbosa said. “By equipping the Institute with the necessary funding assistance, DBP is also fulfilling its mandate to boost the overall capacity of the country’s health care system at large.”

DBP is the seventh largest bank in the country in terms of assets and provides credit support to four strategic sectors of the economy – infrastructure and logistics, MSMEs, social services and community development, and the environment.

DBP SHIELD is a specially designed program that provides funding support to hospitals, laboratories, diagnostic centers, clinics, and primary care providers including pharmacies, family physician clinics, and the like that need to develop or construct and acquire health care facilities and equipment. As of June 2020, DBP SHIELD has lent out a total of P11.07-Billion to 89 borrowers in various parts of the country.

Herbosa said GCCII’s facility is envisioned to be a nuclear medicine hub in the region and would be manned by trained professionals with extensive training in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine from different institutions.

He said GCCII’s three-storey hospital building will be built on a 5,407 square meter lot, complete with bunker rooms, roof deck, and state-of-the art machinery and equipment that would cater to the health care requirements of residents in the South, particularly those based in Laguna, Quezon and Bicol.

“In this extraordinary time where we gear-up for a certain level of normalcy, DBP vows to continue its support to developmental initiatives that would intensify the delivery of improved quality health services for every Filipino,” Herbosa said.