Vol. XXI, No. 180 [ Business World Online ]
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
A GERMAN trade mission told President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a courtesy call in Malacañan Palace yesterday that investors from their country were interested in medical tourism, maritime personnel development and micro-finance in the Philippines.
A Palace press statement said the German delegation tagged these business fields as the Philippines’ "three areas of excellence."
The business mission was headed by Gerhard Zeidler, honorary consul general of the Philippines in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Hesse, two of the biggest of the 16 federal states of Germany.
Quality assurance
Mr. Zeidler, who is also president of an international company that certifies the quality standard of hospitals and wellness centers all over the world, said he "offered our services" to check on the country’s major hospitals and help them to qualify as International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-certified hospitals.
In offering his company’s hospital certification services, Mr. Zeidler said that tourists want to be assured that the countries they visit have ISO-certified hospitals.
The German consul general pointed out that in all of Europe, "it is impossible for hospitals to operate without ISO certification."
The certification assures patients of the quality standard of the technology and services offered by the hospital they approach, whether in emergencies or for other treatment, said Mr. Zeidler.
Mr. Zeidler’s firm employs 18,000 personnel worldwide.
Certified
Loredanna Hess, honorary vice-consul general of the Philippines in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Hesse, said Mr. Zeidler’s company will start certifying 16 major hospitals in the Philippines, most of them located in Metro Manila.
Two hospitals operating in Metro Manila that already have ISO certification are St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City and the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa.
The German delegation was accompanied to Malacañang by Philippine Ambassador to Germany Delia Domingo-Albert and Tourism Secretary Joseph Felix Mari H. Durano, who later recounted that German investors were particularly interested in medical tourism, maritime personnel development and micro-finance.
The German delegation also included Consul Eckbert von Bohlen und Halbach of Bavaria and Consul Heinz-Peter Heidrich of North-Rhine-Westphalia.
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