To provide its patients with treatments and hotel-like amenities, the owner and operator of the Medical City has allotted some P340 million to expand its wellness center.

The Professional Services Inc., the company that runs the said hospital, will be beefing up the Medical City Wellness and Aesthetic Center by adding two new floors above the existing five-floor Podium building. Both levels will have a total area of 2,291 square meters.

The company said the sixth floor will cater to outpatients, while the seventh floor will provide 14 rooms for in-patients. Commercial operations of the said areas will start on July 2010, and will make way for 50 more jobs in the medical facility.

The Board of Investments (BOI) granted the expansion project a pioneer status, enabling the company to enjoy a 6-year tax holiday. The said investment exceeded the $2-billion hurdle set by the BOI for health care and wellness projects.

Last year, Professional Services invested P1.58 billion for its health care and wellness center, riding on the boom of medical tourism in the country. The Medical City is an upscale tertiary care hospital in Pasig City that serves 40,000 in-patients and 380,000 out-patients a year.

Yesterday, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. unit Medical Doctors Inc. (MDI) has announced that it will be spending P250 million to operate the Catholic Church-run Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) in San Juan City. MDI said it will be using the amount to upgrade CSMC's medical facilities and improve its range of services in its first three years of operation.

Colinas Verdes Hospital Managers Corp., a wholly-owned unit of MDI, will manage and operate the CSMC. The deal was sealed in a long-term lease agreement it recently signed with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila for a period of 20 years starting March 1, 2009.

MDI owns and operates the Makati Medical Center and the Davao Doctors Hospital.