Davao City, Philippines-- For my father's hospital stay, we chose Brokenshire Hospital because it has its own dialysis center, unlike Davao Medical School Foundation (DMSFH) where we needed to book for dialysis session outside DMSFH. However, Brokenshire doesn’t have medical/surgical instruments for TURP (Trans-Urethral Resection of the Prostate). The said instruments are only available at DMSFH, Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH) and San Pedro Hospital (SPH). Hence, my father's urologist had to borrow TURP instruments from a certain hospital.

Why didn’t we choose DDH or SPH?

First of all DDH is very expensive. After all, it's the leading hospital here in Davao and has state-of-the-art technology. My father stayed there two years ago and we had a hard time while staying there because "every move that we made was placed into our bill," if you know what I mean.

SPH, on the other hand, has "overcharging issue," according to my sister's friends.

How about DMC?

Nah. It's cheaper but…

Brokenshire Vs DMSFH

I didn’t join the entourage during my father's first day of admission. But when I visited him, I prefer DMSFH than Brokenshire.

Private Room:

Brokenshire doesn’t have fridge and water dispenser inside the room. The bathroom was not to my liking but bearable. The second room was okay because it has "watcher's bed."

In the Philippines, almost all patients have a "watcher" during their stay in the hospital. Watcher's duty is to take care of the patient's needs, like assist him or her when he or she wants to go to the bathroom, help him or her while eating, et cetera. Unlike in the U.S. where nurse-to-patient ratio is 1:1, most of the pearl of the orient's hospitals (Philippine hospitals) failed to provide adequate number of nurses on duty, so they have 1:5-10 ratio.

In general, DMSF's room is cleaner (but without watcher's bed) than Brokenshire.

Nurses on Duty:

They both have friendly and competent nurses. That's why Filipino nurses are in-demand abroad.

Free WiFi:

DMSFH has rooms with free WiFi (only those located at the ground floor). Brokenshire doesn’t have any.

Coffee Corner:

Brokenshire has its own coffee shop, while DMSFH has Coffee Dream (open until 5pm). Both of them are expensive (lol).

Accessibility and Parking Space:

They are both accessible but DMSFH has better parking space.

Whew! It seems like DMSFH is winning the battle, huh? But no…

Hospital Bill:

With the same or almost the same number of days, Brokenshire is cheaper. For instance, we paid PHP xx,xxx at Brokenshire while DMSFH has additional x in it. Go figure.

Since recession is affecting all of us, I think Brokenshire is better (if we talk of money issue) than DMSFH.

Happy Birthday

Fortunately, my father got out of the hospital before my mother's birthday. Belated happy birthday, Mama Carrie.






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