TACLOBAN CITY — While some hospitals closed amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, a new medical facility recently opened here to promote medical tourism in the region.

Youthplus Medical Center, Eastern Visayas’ newest medical facility located in the heart of the city opened its doors to patients, equipped with a state-of-the-art diagnostic facility.

Dr. Yohann Kae Panis-Luzano, a dermatologist by profession, shared they wanted to expand and diversify their services from a clinic to a medical center offering other services such as diagnostics, surgery, and chemotherapy for visiting and in-house patients.

“Our goal is to cater to the primary medical needs of the whole family, including infants up to geriatrics, and give them proper care and excellent customer service through assuring that our facilities, machines, lasers, and clinical diagnostics are 100 percent accurate and could provide superior results,” Dr. Luzano and her husband Rex Luzano, the owners said.

She added that her experience with surviving Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) made her more optimistic that the world will be able to recover from the crisis brought by COVID-19 which is why they took the risk of opening the center.

"We did not think of the pandemic as something that would keep us down. Instead, we look on the brighter side even when we experienced the lockdown," she recalled, citing the need to move forward to help their staff survive.From 27 employees, they now have 74 members with partner medical specialists in 11 departments.

"As we continue to grow, we still want to provide a personalized service while we expand in other areas in the future," she said.