GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/03 July) — Dismayed with the “poor condition” of the South Cotabato provincial hospital, newly-assumed Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. vowed on Wednesday a major overhaul of its operations.
Tamayo, who inspected the facility in his first day in office on Monday, said he decided to place the operations of the provincial hospital under his “direct supervision” to immediately address its various problems.
He specifically cited its rundown buildings, poorly maintained facilities and inadequate supplies and equipment.
“This is clearly the result of long years of neglect and improper management,” the governor said in a radio interview.
Tamayo said among the major problems he found was the poor status of the hospital’s expansion building, which only opened two years ago.
He said the building project, which was implemented by Department of Public Works and Highways through a P70-million grant from the Department of Health, was not yet fully completed when the provincial government allowed the hospital to utilize it.
Some facilities at the three-story building were already damaged, its elevator was not functioning and the installed pipes were leaking wastes from the comfort rooms, he said.
In the other buildings, Tamayo said he found a number of defective doors, poorly maintained wards and non-functioning comfort rooms.
“These were compounded by the congestion of the hospital, as seen with the patients staying in the alleys,” he said.
Tamayo said he will find ways to immediately address these problems as well as those in other provincial government-supported hospitals.
These are the district hospital in Norala town, municipal hospital in Polomolok and the Upper Valley Community Hospital in Surallah.
He said he issued a directive placing the supervision of these hospitals under Dr. Conrado Brana, the current provincial hospital chief.
“(Dr. Brana) will directly report to me so I will have direct supervision of our hospitals,” he said.
The governor said he will later issue an executive order to reorganize the operations and functions of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), which previously managed the hospitals.
He said the IPHO will handle the management of the rural health units and mandated programs, including immunization. (MindaNews)
