WITH a new management team, the University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH) is on its way to recovery after two straight years of losses, its chief executive officer said.
“The institution must now position itself for development,” Dr. Cenon Alfonso said in a financial report of the USTH. “This will propel the UST Hospital to premier status—the center for excellence in healthcare.”
The USTH administration said the hospital found a new lease on life after the creation of the University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Incorporated, on May 21, 2004. Posting a net loss of P57.4 million in 2004, USTH registered a net income of P35.9 million, in 2005, a 168 per-cent increase.
The profit increase almost covered the expenses this year as losses from hospital operation shrank by 99 per cent from P62.05 million last year to P356,000 this year.
Profits from the private division surged almost hundredfold, from P1.2 million in 2004 to P100.8 million. The clinical division (charity hospital) continued its financial woes as its losses increased by 10.7 per cent, from P58.6 million in 2004 to P64.9 million in 2005.
USTH’s recovery could be attributed to its non-hospital businesses. It earned P39.7 million from its rentals and other businesses unlike last year, when the hospital only earned P5.4 million in the same area.
The hospital was also able to decrease its liabilities by 3.3 per cent, from P406.7 million last year to P393.2 million this year while it increased its assets by 32 per cent from P200.3 million to P265.3 million.
In its first two months, the new management implemented an effective streamlining of the organization, based on the report. It also hired more personnel this year, growing from 325 staff members last year to 600 staff members this year, including homegrown specialists.
The hospital now also boasts of its 90 per cent average daily occupancy rate in the private division while the hospital was able to maintain its clinical division’s 460-bed for the needy. The clinical division has a 55 per cent occupancy rate.
