KORONADAL CITY – The provincial government of South Cotabato will start this week the gradual or phased turnover to the Department of Health (DOH) of the operations of the Soccsksargen General Hospital (SGH) in Surallah town.
South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. said Monday personnel from the DOH-12 will formally report for duty at the hospital starting on July 1 as part of the ongoing transition process.
He said the agency has already hired the initial employees for the SGH, with some coming from the current roster under the provincial government.
Citing their earlier negotiations, he said the DOH-12 agreed to maximize the hiring of employees from within the hospital to ensure that no one would be displaced.
Current workers who will not be hired would be absorbed later on by the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital based in this city, he said.
“The process will continue until we fully transfer the hospital’s operations and it can already stand on its own,” Tamayo said in his weekly radio program “Ang Gobernador kag ang Katawhan (The governor and the people).”
Formerly known as the Upper Valley Community Hospital, SGH was designated in 2018 as a regional hospital for Region 12 (Soccsksargen) through Republic Act 11102 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Its turnover to the DOH-12 was delayed due to the onset last year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, which forced the local government to utilize it as a dedicated treatment and isolation facility.
The provincial government and the agency, through Undersecretary Dr. Abdullah Dumama and regional director Dr. Aristedes Tan, agreed to complete the hospital’s turnover before the end of the year.
Tamayo said the process covers the full transfer of the existing facilities, equipment, manpower, accounting unit, and operations.
He assured the hospital’s operations and services will not be hampered during the transition period.
“With the full turnover, our obligation to the hospital will end. But its services will continue,” he said.
The DOH is pushing for the development of SGH as the main regional hospital in Soccsksargen, which will operate as a Level 3 facility and capacity of at least 300 beds.
The Regional Development Council of Region 12 had endorsed a budget of around PHP1.8 billion for SGH next year, a significant increase from the current PHP89 million, to fast track the upgrading of the facility
Source: Philippines News Agency
