Sunday, November 4, 2007

St. Luke's Medical Center - Philippines


according to the St. Luke's website:


The foremost and the most admired hospital in the Philippines




Today it is the foremost and most admired hospital in the Philippines and an acknowledged leader in Asia. St. Luke's delivers on its mission of healing by gathering under one roof the finest medical expertise, the most sophisticated medical technology and facilities, and a deep-rooted culture of compassion. It supports this mission with research and continuing education for those who serve. The total dedication to quality and caring of the St. Luke's family is what distinguishes the hospital as a center of healthcare excellence in Asia.


when bea got sick we brought her to st. luke's since her pedia holds her clinic there. we stayed in "kiddie land" for 3.5 days... from sunday night to wednesday afternoon. we were checked in a semi-private room. there are two patients to an air-conditioned room. we shared a bathroom, which had lukewarm water and was clean. we had enough space. we had cabinets, drawers and tables to put our stuff in. companions had a long upholstered bench to sleep on. they changed the sheets everyday, plus whenever the patients soil their sheets (which was often in our case!). they cleaned the room twice a day, and gave us a roll of tissue paper and soap everyday. personnel were very courteous. they assigned a nurse per patient, which was ok with us since the assigned nurse really did focus her attention on bea whenever she came in the room, which was often, and usually with a trainee in tow. they had a pantry nearby where they had a hot/cold water dispenser, bottle sterilizer and a microwave oven available for anyone to use.





food was great! except for one dish (i think it was meatloaf, but it didn't taste good) everything else was yummy! they thought about the presentation too. who said hospital food had to taste bleech?! too bad i wasn't able to get pictures of every meal, they were that appetizing to look at, that we usually just dived in!


the bill was a bit steep as expected, they bill you for every needle they poke in your body. so what if they didn't get the needle in your vain the first time? they'd just open another pack and bill you for everything... we even got billed for a ROLL of plaster... for the plaster the used to tape in the IV to bea's hand. i told the nurse i think they ony used a couple of inches, definitely not a ROLL, so i took whatever was left of the plaster home.... i paid for it anyway. =)


for every day that we stayed there, i was getting uneasy, i knew the bills were getting higher. good thing they had an online billing system where in you can inquire about your latest bill. you can choose to see just the total amount... or a detailed list of everything charged to you, every medicine, every cotton ball...(i suggest this one so you can check if you actually used all those items) and you can print it too. so you can go back quietly to your room, look at your latest billing and PANIC privately. lol!

in fairness, they reversed the cost of some unused medicines without me asking them. =)



when we were ready to leave, a representative from the pharmacy talked to us about the followup medicines bea had to take, the dosage, the duration... this was something new, in the past the doctors were the ones who usually do this.


hospitalizations are never good experiences, the stress, the sleepless nights, the expenses, at least St. Luke's (despite of or because of the high bill) made our stay a bit more bearable. i really felt they gave extra effort to make their patients feel comfortable and well-taken care off.

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