There are private charities, and there are private hospitals. But in a country where premium healthcare is big business mostly reserved for the upper classes (thus one tycoon’s progressive near-monopoly of leading private hospitals), rare is the private charity hospital. Rarer still is one with a long and storied history.

The journey of a thousand miles began some one hundred and thirty-one years ago, when wealthy Chinese immigrants, in a demonstration of having cast their lot with the Philippines and its native people, raised funds for a clinic that would provide free medical care.

Later, with more funds forthcoming from the Chinese, this would be elevated to a hospital called “Hospital de Chinos.” But don’t let that appellation fool you. The facility treated everyone — Chinese and Filipinos — in equal measure.

In time, the facility grew, until it became what it is today — the Chinese General Hospital (CGH), a premiere health facility that is at par, or even better than, many of the purely private institutions of its kind today.

As Filipinos of Chinese ethnicity in the Philippines grew in money and influence, they altruistically gave back to their countrymen in spades by funding the growth and expansion of the CGH, not only in terms of its physical plant, but with the acquisition of state-of-the-art medical apparatus and a top-rated medical staff that has made it one of the best hospitals not only in the country but in Southeast Asia. Through various hospital directors, and ably aided by its partnership with the Philippine Chinese Charitable Association Inc. (PCCAI), it has gone from strength to strength to what it is today.

I was quite close to its last preceding director, Dr. James Dy, many of whose legendary lumpia parties I attended in his modest residence in Greenhills in San Juan City. While the event remained under the radar for so long, it was attended by the crème de la crème of Philippine government: justices of the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, senators and congressmen, high-ranking local officials and taipans, and even the occasional President and Vice President. Through it all, Dr. James remained strictly non-partisan. While eating lumpia (which quite literally was the only dish served, apart from cakes and sweets sometimes), no discussion of politics or business was allowed, only friendly banter on society in general.

I once asked Dr. James, whose house was a charming remnant of 1960s architecture, why he never renovated to keep up with the newer mansions of his neighbors. His reply was touching: I would rather spend my money helping other people in need through the CGH than on a house that already sufficiently provides shelter for me and my family.

Dr. James has sadly passed away after a long and blissful life, and he will be sorely missed. But in his foresight, he left the helm of the CGH in the hands of a young innovator, Kelly Hun Sia. And judging by the way Mr. Sia has taken over and brought CGH to greater heights, Dr. James must be grinning widely from above.

With the help of like-minded professionals like CGH medical director Samuel Ang, current PCCAI head and CGH chair Antonio Tan, and a supportive board, the CGH has maintained its status as the leading private non-profit hospital in the country, saving and improving the lives of countless indigent Filipinos, many times at no cost to them.

Perhaps what many people do not know is that, although not for profit, CGH boasts not only cutting-edge equipment but groundbreaking innovations as well in the field of minimally invasive and robotic surgery and high-end diagnostic tools, among others.

And its initiative of entering into agreements with institutions such as the Philippine National Police, the Manila Judges Association and, of late, the National Press Club to provide substantial discounts to members of the said organizations is certainly a class act, generally speaking.