MORE hotels are needed near hospital zones in Quezon City, Mayor Herbert Bautista said Thursday.
He urged hoteliers and property developers to build hotels and lodging facilities near hospitals to cater to the needs of families of patients seeking treatment.
The mayor, however, admitted the city lacks accommodations for non-tourist transients.
Quezon City is home to 46 government and private hospitals, among these are specialized government facilities—the Philippine Heart Center, Philippine Orthopedic Hospital, Philippines Children’s Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, and National Kidney and Transplant Institute.
“We want an additional support system for the hospitals, like hotels. There should be support structures around hospital zones. We don’t want patients and their families to go elsewhere. If someone is having a medical procedure at the Philippine Heart Center, his family should not venture outside Quezon City, to find a place to stay,” Bautista said.
“If someone is recovering from plastic surgery for a week, his or her kin will have to stay here, eat, shop, take a coffee break and see the parks in Quezon City.”
Bautista also instructed the city’s tourism department, headed by Divina Gracia Pascua, to come up with a bed and breakfast scheme that could give livelihood opportunities to residents in areas near hospital zones.
The city government is willing to give incentives on real property taxes for those who would build hotels or bed-and-breakfast in these areas.
The mayor also emphasized the role of travel agencies in marketing Quezon City as a medical and wellness hub.
The call of Bautista is part of his vision to make Quezon City the “medical and wellness capital of Asia” by 2020.
“On a global scale, I’ve learned that medical tourism is one of the so-called sunrise industries. Our report from Allied Market Research forecast the world medical tourism could be $143 billion by 2020. Growth is phenomenal and the Philippines is poised to benefit because of our hospitality, skilled doctors, and ready facilities,” the mayor said.
Apart from the best hospitals, Quezon City also boasts of the top aesthetics clinic that can be found on Tomas Morato and wellness clinics around the city.
He believes the city is very ripe to take the challenge of medical tourism because of the combination of the best facilities and best human resource in Quezon City.
“I believe that Filipinos are the best in terms of providing personal and effective health care, so to speak. The Filipinos are hospital enough,” he said.
Meanwhile, Quezon City Muslim Consultative Council executive director Jameel RM Jaymalin said his Muslim brothers are well taken care of in the city.
He stressed Quezon City provides fair and equal opportunities for all religions and genders.
Quezon City, under Bautista’s watch, is among the few cities in the world included in the United Nations Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Places Initiative for pioneering in gender-fair programs.
As a result, Quezon City serves as a melting pot of cultures that provides opportunities for all, regardless of religion and gender. This can be seen through the bazaars, trade fairs and churches and mosques located in the city.
Quezon City has a total of 50 mosques and musallas, or open spaces where the faithful gather to pray outside the mosques, serving 51,510 residents of 23 Muslim communities.
The oldest Islamic community in Culiat began in 1971 with Salam Mosque as its first and oldest mosque.
“Our city’s Islamic communities are not being discriminated upon. They are treated as equals here in Quezon City,” Col. Jaymalin said.
One of the milestones of Quezon City is the creation of the first Muslim Consultative Council in Metro Manila in 2004. The council, now chaired by Mayor Herbert Bautista, also serves as the coordinating and advisory body to the city government in formulating policies, plans, and programs for the welfare of Muslim residents in the city.
“Because of the opportunities given by our government, through the good governance of Mayor Herbert Bautista, we now have Madrasah schools. We are one of the few cities dito sa Metro Manila that offers Madrasah,” Col. Jaymalin said.
There are 17 accredited Madrasah schools in six districts of the city.