Pasig hospital back in good health, earns ISO approval

Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/www.rizalmedicalcenter.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Seven years ago, the Rizal Medical Center (RMC) in Pasig City was offering “deplorable” services and putting patients in “dilapidated” wards.

Now, patients can expect consistent high-quality service, a pledge the hospital’s administrators made after its services and facilities garnered an international stamp of approval.

That is the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) 9001:2008 certification, which RMC won for its provision of tertiary-level training to medicine interns and for its general hospital and health care services.

“ISO 9001:2008 is a certification that an organization has passed the standards in terms of quality management system. This can only mean increased customer satisfaction and quality health care services that we can provide,” Dr. Relito Saquilayan, RMC chief, told the Inquirer.

Saquilayan said the certification was a turnaround from a few years ago, when the hospital was in a sorry state and was thrust into the national spotlight following the deaths of newborn babies under its care.

Babies died

That was in October 2006. Word spread that nine babies born in RMC on the same day had died of neonatal sepsis, a condition where lethal bacteria infect the blood stream of infants.

Investigation by the Department of Health (DOH) showed that the infection was transmitted from mother to baby but public scrutiny of the hospital turned up neglected facilities and poor services.

The hospital’s administrators were penalized.

“I was the chief training officer of the hospital when it happened and that was a really low point for us. The services we were offering were deplorable. Our physical facilities were very bad. They were dilapidated and dirty. Some areas even had an unpleasant smell. We had many patients but we lacked support. And we weren’t earning from the services we provided,” Saquilayan said.

He said the hospital also failed to provide basic services, such as X-rays and even simple laboratory tests, and patients had to go elsewhere for these.

DOH support

“We eventually got some support from the DOH and we improved our income streams, but it was a turning point for me. We needed to change. That was my motivation,” Saquilayan said.

International certification was part of the improvements Saquilayan planned for the hospital. The RMC applied for ISO accreditation in August 2012 and got it in just over a year.

“Luckily, when we were planning [it], the Makati Medical Center Foundation (MMCF) came to help the hospital [strengthen its] organization as part of their corporate social responsibility. It really helped us secure this ISO certification,” he said.

New knowledge, skills

The MMCF training was held from June to December 2012, and the hospital’s officials acquired knowledge and skills required for ISO accreditation.

“During this period, we realized how much red tape we had here. Patients, staff and the management had to wait too long in some processes. We still have some lengthy processes but the training from MMCF and the assessment of ISO helped us to simplify many of these,” Saquilayan said.

He said the hospital realized that its greatest strength was its manpower, which, ironically, had opposed ISO standardization.

“They thought that this was a prelude to privatization and they thought that we would be acquired by MVP (businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan). I went to great lengths to explain to them that this was not the case. And once they saw for themselves how the process was changing them and the hospital for the better, they supported it,” he said.

Upgraded facilities

The accreditation process also required the upgrading of facilities for the hospital to be able to offer and maintain services compliant to ISO standards.

“We improved our operating room and purchased sophisticated ultrasound units, among other [things],” Saquilayan said.

The emergency room of the hospital is now air-conditioned, with 15 beds and divided into areas for specific emergency services.

But more important, Saquilayan said, is that with the standardization, the hospital is now bent on providing quality services and working for customer satisfaction.

“We are now implementing surveys, personal interviews and other tools to measure how satisfied our patients are with the services we offer,” he said.

Saquilayan said initial feedback had been overwhelmingly positive.

“Some recall the old times when the hospital was in a sorry state and say that our facilities are now much better. We also see comments on our Facebook page and many of them have been positive and encouraging,” he said.

Dreaming of growth

Saquilayan hopes the ISO certification will help the hospital increase its revenue so that, in turn, it can offer new services and provide new medical facilities.

He also hopes that more medical interns will choose to do their internship and eventually apply for residency in the hospital, with its ISO certification as a draw.

“But most important, I believe that going through the process of ISO certification will help [us attain] our vision [of becoming] the preferred medical institution in the country, providing quality health care services,” Saquilayan said.