South Cotabato, Koronadal City-The provincial government of South Cotabato gradually turnover the operations of the COVID Hospital or the Soccsksargen General Hospital (SGH) in Surallah to the Department of Health (DOH).
South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. said Monday personnel from the DOH-12 will be formally reporting 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 with the DOH-12, Tamayo said the latter 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.
Its turnover to the DOH-12 was delayed due to the onset last year of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which forced the local government to utilize it as a dedicated treatment and isolation facility.
The provincial government and the DOH, through Undersecretary Abdullah Dumama and Regional Director 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 that the hospital’s operations and services will not be hampered during the transition period.
