Published in Men's Zone Magazine, 2004
Jorge Garcia is probably the only top executive who doesn’t wince at money problems. “I’m having a little trouble paying off some creditors, but at least, I know I can pay my suppliers within the month,” he smiles.
Garcia, Asian Hospital Incorporation’s president and chairman, of course, is not your typical executive. While others brandish an MBA, he holds a medical degree. While others use financial calculators and hold fort in corner offices, he uses a scalpel and reigns in operating theatres. And while others look after their business’s health, Garcia looks after people’s lives. He is, after all, the Philippines’s foremost heart surgeon, bar none, and has made his mark not just in his homeland, but in the United States — his home for the past 35 years — as well. In fact, Garcia continues to play an active role in Georgetown Hospital’s heart program to this day, even as he makes fortnightly visits to the Philippines.
Garcia has enjoyed a robust and fulfilling career serving heart patients, developing heart programs that have benefited many. His success was largely the result of talent and hard work, with some luck thrown in between.
At age 34, the young Garcia, a fast-rising and highly qualified surgeon at Cleveland Hospital, had his first taste of the limelight when he was shown on national TV performing a cardiac catherization. That, though, was entirely unplanned. He recalls: “There was this man who had an angiogram and needed surgery right away. His doctor needed to move fast, and asked me to do the operation. The thing was, NBC wanted to tape the surgery.”
And so, in the minutes before former president Richard Nixon tendered his resignation, America —waiting for their president’s valedictory message — watched as the Filipino surgeon, who was not the least bit nervous, presided over what was then a revolutionary operation. “The news showed a completely arrested heart. Then I restored circulation and it started beating again.”
From then on, Garcia never looked back. The man on TV went on to develop the biggest heart program in Washington DC and the east coast, whose 3,000 annual operations is dwarfed only by Cleveland’s. His patients included US luminaries,
including Clark Clifford, counsel of the Kennedys and author of the vaunted Marshall Plan, and, more recently, Pat Buchanan, who, despite his rightist rantings, entrusted his life to a Filipino doctor and his non-white team when his own mortality came into question. “He was the only white person, along with my assistant, in the operating room,” Garcia recalled with a chuckle.
But though Garcia was content with his life and career, he somehow knew this was not enough.
An operation on a Filipino colleague in 1987 pointed him to new beginnings. He noted that his physician friend, though by no means indigent, still struggled to fork over US$33,000 for a heart bypass in the mainland. That patient told Garcia he could be in a direct position to be of tremendous help to his kababayans.
The thought never left Garcia.
By 1988, he had convinced the Makati Medical Center hierarchy to open a heart surgery program, the Makati Heart Foundation, which he headed. The good doctor would come home regularly to treat Filipino heart patients, who began to enjoy the cost advantages of having their operations done by a US professional in Manila. “A heart surgery in the US would cost around US$25,000 to US$30,000 for the hospital, plus US$10,000 for the doctor. In the Philippines, you would spend US$10,000 for everything, including professional fees,” he pointed out.
Over the years, of course, the heart program evolved. At first, Garcia had to bring in an all-American team of nurses, anesthesiologists, plus a plane load of supplies, to ensure that he could transplant the entire US system to the Philippines and train doctors and nurses in the process.
That, though, was not exactly easy to do. Instead, Garcia found himself taking Filipino professionals to the US for training on open-heart surgeries. There was just one problem: “The US guys liked them so much that they wanted to hire them.”
Garcia, who, to this day, carries a Filipino passport, has always wondered why Filipino physicians, for all their brilliance, never really excelled in their own country, but did so quite easily once abroad. He, of course, had an inkling. “In big US centers like Cleveland and Stanford, Filipinos excel, but not here. So I thought that the problem was the environment.”
And so he again began to dream, and dreamed big.
He explained: “Filipinos are easy learners, they can easily get the flow of things. So I wanted to provide an environment for Filipino professionals, where young ones can
excel.”
In 1995, he and Dr. Rodrigo Floro met with Filipino doctors in the Indiana-Chicago area to tell them that together, they could build a facility that would forever raise health standards in the land of their birth. Their pitch must have been so powerful, for doctors started writing out cheques to the amount of US$50,000 right there and then. “I must have hit a raw nerve,” Dr. Garcia muses, “because their reaction was so spontaneous.”
Their contributions served as the seed money that led to the construction of the hospital. Eventually, institutional investors linked up with the doctors, among them Insular Life, United Laboratories and Vista Holdings of Singapore.
Asian Hospital’s inception, though, was not without problems. Its construction, commencing in 1998, ran smack into the Asian crisis of 1997, which saw the peso tumbling down to 52 to the greenback from the previous 25 to the dollar. Cost overruns spiralled out of control as interest expenses soared. To make matters worse, the impeachment drama of former President Estrada started to unravel, so much so that when a British firm bought out Vista Holdings, which owned 30% of the hospital, it deliberately left out its Philippine operations.
Despite its financial problems, the 258-bed Asian Hospital still managed to open its doors to the public in May last year, with Garcia suddenly finding himself in the unfamiliar position of president.
Thrust into the veritable unknown, Garcia suddenly finds himself presiding over matters he does not exactly enjoy — managing a business, for example. “What’s this ROI? I never heard about this before,” he whines. Sheafing through a pile of reports, he says “I never dreamed I’ll do these things. My forte is heart surgery. I don’t like this. I’m not good at it.”
The marked contrast between Garcia and your run-of-the-mill executive has proven propitious, though. Unlike most executives who fidget at faltering numbers, he looks at the bigger picture — the Asian Hospital’s fundamental strengths, in this case — and asks no questions, keeping an almost child-like faith not usually seen in the business world.
Even as reports of buyouts and creditor concerns swirl about, Garcia is not at all fazed. “Our problem is only money,” he says, explaining payment arrangements made with creditors and suppliers. Besides, he points out, its doctor-investors don’t care so much about the figures businessmen regularly fret over. “Where doctors are concerned, what’s important is the survival of this hospital. We’re not interested in controlling this;
that’s where doctors are coming from. We feel very good about this hospital, and we want this project to be successful, that’s all.”
In fact, Garcia openly talks about the day when he will have to yield his post to “an expert” in the business. As of this writing, a candidate has already been identified. “He’s an expat. We wanted someone knowledgeable in running a US hospital and who has gone through the Joint Commission accreditation,” he revealed.
A Joint Commission accreditation simply means that the facility is at par with US standards, and is thus authorized to deal with the US Medicare and American insurance firms. It also serves as proof that the hospital is safe for the patients and the people who work in it. Garcia has no question that the Asian Hospital will get its accreditation, possibly within the next 18 months. “There’s no question that we’ll get the accreditation; it’s just a question of when.”
For now, Garcia presides over the hospital with much optimism. Even without looking at the numbers that regularly land on his desk, he knows, for a fact, that business is picking up. “Each day I would look out from the operating room, and I would see more cars parked outside. And now I have to wait longer for the elevator, which means there are more people inside,” he notes. He observes, too, that “there is a lot of construction going around” with 90 doctor’s offices now occupied and all 146 sold out. “Things are beginning to gel now,” he says.
Garcia takes heart in the knowledge that “people believe in my vision” — to build a first-class facility that will improve the quality of health care in the country. At the same time, he openly gushes about the hospital, calling it the “most beautiful in Asia.” He is confident that the hospital is just a harbinger of things to come. “When Shangri-La came in, it raised the bar in the hotel industry. I bet you the next hospital that will be built (in the Philippines) will be better than Asian Hospital.”
At present, Asian Hospital is decidedly the most modern facility in the country. Situated in one corner of the Filinvest Corporate City, it is surrounded by lush greenery, which has an immediate calming effect to both patients and physicians. Its modern architecture, characterized by high ceilings, glass walls, and wide halls evoke a feeling of serenity — a far cry from the antiseptic surroundings normally associated with medical institutions. Wood panels, fresh flowers and rock gardens give it a home-like feel. There are no long queues here; its lobby is not unlike a hotel’s, with the usual accoutrements, including concierge and coffee. It is worth noting that the hospital’s rates are very competitive, and its standard rooms, priced at par with the competition’s,
are definitely better appointed.
Though designed for the comfort of patients, the hospital is also a sanctuary of sorts to many Filipino doctors, an enclave where they can be themselves and put all they know to good use.
But what matters now is the quality health care, or at least, vestiges of it, is beginning to come to Philippine territory. A growing number of Filipinos, Garcia observed, are opting to do their heart surgeries here, realizing that quality cardiac care can be had in these parts. Even the surgeon elected to have his own knee surgery done at Asian Hospital. “After two days, I was already doing open heart surgeries,” he added. “ I tell you, we’re good; we’re even better.”
In fact, Dr. Garcia argues that there are many compelling reasons for Filipinos to have their medical care done in the Philippines. “We have very good nurses, we have more manpower in our ICUs, and when it comes to work ethics, we have a genuine interest in our patients.” In addition, “we have a very low infection rate despite the pollution in the Philippines.” At Asian Hospital, Dr. Garcia knows he has a “good, dedicated team, who takes pride in their efforts.”
In fact, he says, he doesn’t mind having to cross the oceans every month because “I look forward to coming here, because I feel accomplished.” That he has cut his earning power doesn’t matter at all to the surgeon. “At this point in my career, I don’t care about professional fees anymore.” He acknowledges, of course, “That there’s always a trade-off, but I’m happy about it.” He adds: “you do things that make you happy. It’s not the money or the profession. You can be a clerk, but so long as you’re happy, you look forward to going to your place of work and put 100% of your effort into it.”
Of course, his routine could be quite enervating. The fortnightly commute and 2-3 operations per day could also sap his energies. “Jet lag hits me. Of course, I suffer too.”
But all that take a backseat when he thinks of his shining moments, which are the times “when I know I was able to pull a patient out of the fire.” Thirty-five years of surgery have not at all diminished the sweet feeling of accomplishment each time he is able to bring people back from the brink. He talks about his most recent emergency operation with much pride. “I was at the lounge, watching TV Patrol. We had just finished a case so everybody was there, when we were told there was a patient who had no more blood to the heart. We did a quick operation and now he is alive,” he
relates. Seeing that the patient is now back to his daily grind, he could only feel triumphant. “You really feel good about these things,” he stresses.
He also draws a lot of strength in the realization that he has helped a lot of young surgeons in their careers. “Seeing a lot of young surgeons, many of whom were under my wing here and in the US, who try to emulate what a surgeon should think and do — that makes me feel really happy. I see I have done something good for them, and when I see their offices full, I see that I have done something good for them. I tell you, it’s a very rewarding feeling, and no trophy can replace that.”
Obviously, Garcia has a lot of things to keep him going. “I’m 61, so I’m good for another 5 years.” He sees himself doing much of the same thing in the immediate horizon. “I don’t want to severe ties with the US for their training and technology. I’m still part of the heart surgery program in Washington Hospital, but now I don’t operate as much as I used to because I’m here. Now, I’m just like a grandfather to most of them.”
Garcia is definitely one happy patriarch, knowing he has nurtured not just lives and minds, but also hopes and dreams.
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