SULTAN Kudarat Provincial Hospital
DAVAO CITY – The provincial government of Sultan Kudarat has vowed to improve its medical facilities as Gov. Datu Pax Ali Mangudadatu aims to upgrade its provincial hospital to Level 3 accreditation next year.
The Sultan Kudarat Provincial Hospital is still operating under Level 2 accreditation. Thus, services are limited as provided by its existing accreditation program, Mangudadatu said.
“I want to remind everyone that our provincial hospital has Level 2 accreditation, which defines the services we can provide. Beyond that, we transfer patients to higher-level hospitals. Next year, hopefully, we will be granted Level 3 accreditation by the Department of Health,” he said.
Under the Level 2 accreditation, hospitals can only provide clinical services, respiratory units, ICU, NICU and HRPU, clinical laboratory, and second level X-ray.
Level 3-accredited hospitals offer teaching, training, and research, physical medicine and rehabilitation science, ambulatory surgery, dialysis, tertiary laboratory, blood bank, and third level X-ray.
Even with the existing services, Mangudadatu assured that the provincial hospital is for the poorest of the poor.
“We are aiming to upgrade by next year so that the needs of our patients can be better served. That way, we can hire more specialized doctors to expand our services.”
For now, the governor said, the provincial hospital is still referring some patients, whose cases could not be accommodated, to higher-level hospitals.
The governor said that he is outsourcing funds to upgrade and improve its services by next year.
Inaugurated in 2021, the four-story hospital with a total bed capacity of 399 is located in Isulan town.
Mangudadatu added that once the provincial hospital is upgraded to Level 3, its services will be at par with regional hospitals.
“By that time, the hospital can be a training facility of medical students. Which also means we will have additional manpower in providing healthcare. And we will also have additional support from DOH and PhilHealth because our case rate will also increase,” he said.
Mangudadatu vowed to find means to upgrade accreditations and health services in all rural health facilities and district hospitals of the province.
Recently, the provincial government announced that it is planning to put up a Sultan Kudarat Nuclear Medicine Center starting this year.
The facility will be equipped with cutting-edge nuclear medicine technology essential for early detection and treatment of various diseases, especially cancer, thyroid disorders, and cardiac conditions.
Once realized, patients will no longer travel to General Santos City for two hours or to Davao City for at least five hours just to avail of these advanced health care services.