Makati Medical Center (MMC) formally unveiled its new Urgent Care Center on Thursday, a facility designed to provide immediate walk-in treatment for non-life-threatening conditions and reduce wait times in the main emergency department.

Located on the ground floor of Tower 1 along the MakatiMed driveway, the center began pilot operations in April. It currently operates 12 hours a day, staffed by a consultant, a training resident, an emergency medicine specialist and two nurses.

Dr. Amado Flores III, an emergency medicine physician at the hospital, said the facility was two years in the planning and was created in response to patient concerns over emergency room congestion.

“Most medical centers have high-volume emergency departments. We look at up to 200 patients in one day,” Flores said. “Because of that, we are always full, always congested. The real emergencies and the conditions that are not really emergency, less severe, they have to wait for a long time.”