Love-Hate Relationship with The Medical City

Last Tuesday (September 28) I get a call from my Mom telling me she wasn't able to go to her lunch meeting at the Manila Peninsula because she wasn't feeling well. Apparently her blood pressure reached 180/90, and my cousin who is a cardiologist instructed her to go to the nearest emergency room because the rise in her BP was just too sudden and besides the measurement, she was asymptomatic. Since we've already moved to the province of Rizal, the nearest hospital was the Manila East Medical Center, but since I told her I was leaving the office already I'd just bring her to The Medical City in Pasig City.

You see, I really hated The Medical City. When I was still a medical writer for a publishing company, we interviewed a lot of doctors from different fields and different hospitals. But we always had a bitch of a time at The Medical City. They're just so iffy with photographers and media people in general. I don't know what they're hiding, but they reject media people and reject them in really disrespectful manners. I won't elaborate anymore, it'll probably take up most of the blog entry, and besides it's not my story to tell. It's just really annoying that a reputable hospital such as The Medical City could have really disrespectful employees!

So there we were at the Emergency Room, Mom was immediately tended to by a nurse who checked her BP, and when they saw that it was high she was immediately wheeled to a bed.

Then came the super busy bee nurses who asked Mom about her medical history. In fairness the nurses are really efficient, they kept coming back to check on Mom every 2 minutes or so! It was also in the ER that Mom had her Electrocardiogram (ECG).

Their ER was also huge and really clean! Although I noticed that as the night wore on a lot more people started coming in! The hallway was soon filled with patients in wheelchairs, wheezing, puking, hacking, it was creepy!



Since Mom's BP was still high after taking 3 blood pressure lowering meds, I knew I had to have her confined. Since we live far off, and I wasn't sure if her condition would improve at all, I asked my cardiologist cousin if it was okay to have her confined. He said to have Mom undergo a complete blood work and 2D Echo, something I also had early this year. He referred me to his junior resident, Dr. Eric Pascual. Just a bit of an offset, this doctor is TOTALLY CUTE!! :D

Once Dr. Pascual gave us the go signal, I was off to the Admitting Department, and was amazed by their system. They give you a number, and while waiting you just have to fill up a record. Since it was late, I only waited a couple of minutes before I got entertained by this super efficient and friendly girl named Rose Ann. Sorry for the ninja pics, I was wary of TMC's policies on photo taking!



The admitting process was just really fast! And I noticed how their record keeping was high-tech with the use of bar codes and all that! Rose Ann also explained to me the house rules and even gave me a booklet on TMC's guidelines. I was thinking I'd have a bitch of a time getting Mom admitted since we weren't used to The Medical City. Ever since we've gone to the Makati Medical Center, and we always have it easy there because my Mom's cousin is head of Pathology. So getting a room and getting tended to wasn't hard! And I didn't expect getting an easy time in TMC, but boy did I have an easy time! I felt so mature and all-grown-up checking my mother in a hospital!

After almost 5 hours in the ER, we were finally taken to our room! I'd like to thank the cool nurse whose name I forgot, for being such a clown!


We were taken to Room 1423, a Standard A room. Mom's health plan allows us to stay in a Large Private Room, but when I was at Admitting, I was told that the De Luxe and Superior rooms were full.

Our room was small but cozy. It had all the essentials - private T&B, cable TV, and a small ref - but what sucked was the "bed" for the yaya. It was painfully small, even for me, although it took some getting used to.




I am totally thankful to the wonderful nurses of 14A, they really took care of Mom almost to the point of smothering her. I've never had a hospital experience where nurses kept coming in and out of our room every 5 minutes or so just to ask her how she is. It was annoying but it was completely cool! We stayed there for 2 nights, and Mom was really comfortable.

I'm still loyal to Makati Med and I have not forgotten about the disrespectful guards, but the experience in The Medical City is worth writing about. Not bad for our first time in that hospital. I'm 100% sure Mom and I will be back there. :p

The Medical City
Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City
Tel Nos. 635-6789; 631-8626