The Medical City Opens Women’s Health Floor

Women of all ages and stages of their life can now enjoy, in one convenient location, a full range of consultative and treatment services with the recent opening of the Women’s Health Floor at The Medical City.




The blessing and launch of the Women’s Health Floor was held on April 24, 2015 and is located on the 6th Floor of Nursing Tower.

Joining the Women’s Health Care Center (WHCC) which has been on the 6th Floor since 2010, are the Breast Center, Lactation Clinic and the Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Program Office.

“The new and improved WHCC is now part of the Women’s Health Floor and we are now ready to provide a wholistic program for women,” says Dr. Lyra Ruth Chua, director of WHCC.

The WHCC features both diagnostic and therapeutic services, such as Transvaginal ultrasound, Pap smear and Colposcopy, that specifically address women’s health care concerns. It is a One-Stop Clinic for Assessment of Risk, or OSCAR—a concept that is the first of its kind in the Philippines.

“At the WHCC-OSCAR, patients are thoroughly assessed for any female health care risk in a single location, as the Center is equipped with all the necessary technologies and staff, as opposed to relying on clinics and laboratories in various parts of TMC,” says Dr. Chua.

WHCC also has an operating room for minor surgeries, new specialty clinics like infertility clinic, preterm birth prevention clinic, CEO (Cervix, Endometrium, and Ovarian) clinic, menopause clinic, and Pelvic Floor clinic. WHCC also has new services like service offerings of WHCC such as First Trimester Screening for Congenital Abnormalities and Pre-eclampsia.

Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Program Office


The Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Program is under the Institute of Personalized Molecular Medicine or IPMM. IPMM is a unit of The Medical City focused on the development and delivery of personalized molecular medicine treatments through a convergence of clinical services, basic science research and human resource development.

IPMM is the very first institution in the country to receive a certificate of accreditation as a Human Stem Cell and Cell-based Therapy Facility from the Department of Health. The accreditation was granted in November 2014.

Umbilical cord services being offered at TMC is the only hospital-based program in the Philippines, ensuring a comprehensive range of services, from collection, processing and cryopreservation, to actual stem cell treatment through the TMC IPMM’s Regenerative Medicine Program.

Cord blood and cord materials collection is only done at birth, making it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If not done at this time, its stem cells cannot be preserved and stored. The presence of the Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Program office at the Women’s Health Floor aims to heighten awareness about the benefits of banking cord blood and other cord materials. Preserving the stem cells from the cord material of babies will provide them and their family a powerful medical resource for treating diseases for which stem cells are already being standardly used, and for many other diseases in the future.

Lactation Clinic


TMC is the first private health institution in the Philippines to open a hospital-based Lactation Center aimed at providing education and support to mothers before birth and throughout their breastfeeding journey. Among the Center’s primary goals are to provide a positive breastfeeding experience for mother and baby, promote healthier babies and mothers, and encourage more mothers to breastfeed. The Lactation Center strongly supports the Department of Health’s intensified campaign to promote breastfeeding and complies with the DOH’s 10-step successful breastfeeding program. The Lactation Center formally opened in March 2012 and was originally situated at the 5th floor of the hospital.

With the growing number of mothers who choose to breastfeed, TMC saw the need to establish a center that would cater to all their needs. From prenatal breastfeeding classes in coordination with the Center for Patient Partnership to bedside consultations to home follow up, the Center’s lactation specialists and counselors support the mother in her decision to breastfeed with the most advanced, evidence-based information, with genuine and personalized care.

Breast Center


The Breast Center is the center for ambulatory care of women at risk for developing breast cancer or already diagnosed with the disease. The Clinic features state-of-the-art equipment, all of which are manned by a multidisciplinary team of experts focused on each individual woman’s needs and concerns.

“We have four new high definition ultrasound machines capable of giving us clear and crisp images, we have two new digital mammography machines including breast tomosynthesis that allows us to pick up breast cancers even if they are hiding in dense breasts,” says Dr. Erwin Alcazaren, director of the Breast Center.

Digital breast tomosynthesis, the latest addition to the Breast Center’s most advanced technology, is a newly developed form of three-dimensional (3D) imaging of the breast which offers a clearer and more accurate view compared to digital mammography (2D) alone.


The advantages of digital breast tomosynthesis include improved diagnostic capabilities, clearer images of dense breast tissue, earlier detection of small breast cancers, fewer unnecessary biopsies or additional tests and less emotional and physical stress for patients, among others.

Dr. Alcazaren adds that for patients who opt to have their biopsy immediately after receiving their imaging report, there is a dedicated procedure room where needle biopsies are done complete with its own ultrasound machine and anesthesia machine. The Breast Center also has a special machine for stereotactic breast biopsy.

The Women’s Health Floor is manned by highly-skilled doctors and staff who are passionate about helping women achieve their goals for personal health.

“We don’t just have the technology, we also have the outcomes and the kind of service that make patients coming out of the Women’s Health Floor smile regardless of the diagnosis because they are happy, they are respected and treated as partners,” says Dr. Eugene F. Ramos, TMC Senior Vice President for Medical Services Group.