Ayala eyes expansion of healthcare business

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s oldest conglomerate Ayala Corporation plans to expand its investments in the healthcare sector with the roll out of 100 retail clinics under the brand-name FamilyDoc over the next 3 years.

Ayala Managing Director Paolo Borromeo said in an interview that the conglomerate, through its unit Ayala Healthcare Holdings Incorporated, experimented on developing a smaller primary care clinic  in December last year.

Borromeo said the proposed clinic will house a pharmacy, a diagnostic center, and physicians to handle consultations.

So far, it has two FamilyDoc clinics located in Las Piñas and Imus, Cavite.

“If this becomes successful, we plan to build 100 clinics over the next 3 years,” Borromeo said.

The initial investment for a 100-square meter clinic is from P6 million ($124,879.86) to P7 million ($145,693.17).

Borromeo said Ayala plans to build this chain of retail clinics in middle income communities across the Philippines. (READ: Ayala Land enters hospital business)

Each clinic will have one doctor, two nurses, one pharmacist, and one radio technician.

Operating hours are between 7 am to 9 pm. The consultation fee is P350 ($7.28) per patient.

In 2015, the Ayala group entered the affordable retail healthcare space with the acquisition of a 50%-stake in the Generika group.

Generika is one of the pioneers in the retail distribution of quality generic medicines in the Philippines, with 570 stores nationwide to date.

The conglomerate entered the health care sector in 2014 through QualiMed, Ayala Land, Incorporated’s chain of hospitals and satellite clinics, in partnership with the Mercado medical group.

Ayala had said it plans to invest $50 million in healthcare and education business over the next few years to make the most of the growing Philippine population and rising consumer spending.

Ayala is one of the country’s largest conglomerates, with investments in banking, real estate, telecommunications, water utility, infrastructure, and power generation. – Rappler.com

$1=P48.05