AFP inaugurates renovated Sulu military hospital

• Source: http://news.mb.com.ph/2016/10/28/afp-inaugurates-renovated-sulu-military-hospital/
• Saturday, October 29, 2016

By Nonoy E. Lacson

Zamboanga City — Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Ricardo Visaya led the inauguration Wednesday of the newly-renovated 65-bed capacity Camp General Teodulfo Bautista Station Hospital (CGTBH) in Jolo, Sulu.

Office of the President Undersecretary Emmanuel Bautista, a former AFP Chief of Staff and son of General Teodulfo Bautista on whose honor the camp was named after, was the guest of honor.

He was joined by the local government executives of Sulu, other military top brass from General Headquarters, field commanders in Western Mindanao, and representatives of San Miguel Foundation, Incorporated, led by Peter Suchianco.

The renovation of CGTBH came on the heels of President Duterte’s promise to build medical facilities that would cater to soldiers wounded in battle.

Brig Gen Mariano A. Mejia, the Surgeon General of the AFP and concurrent Commanding General of the AFP Medical Center, hailed the renovation of the medical facility.

“The fulfillment of this once dream of having a hospital in Sulu did not come easy. It faced financial challenges, among others. This is why we are grateful to the AFP leadership, to the Commander in Chief, and to San Miguel Foundation, Incorporated for their gracious donation of ambulances, equipment, and other hospital implements,” said Mejia.

The CGTBSH started as a Trauma Center in 2007. It provided immediate management of combat casualties among AFP uniformed personnel engaged in combat operations in Sulu. With its metamorphosis into a hospital, it can now accommodate injured or sick military personnel, their dependents and even civilians in the province.

Mejia said the CGTBH can cater immediate resuscitative care and advance trauma management, in-patient and out-patient services, ancillary services such as pharmacy, radiology, laboratory, and primary psycho-social and mental health, post-surgical and medical hospitalization and treatment, and also dental health care services.

“As the Chief of Staff, I exhort field commanders to care for and show their concern for the men—our most valuable asset. This is the moving force that rallied us to this endeavor where even government and non-government corporations weighed in.” Visaya said.

“Camp Teodulfo Station Hospital is a testimony to the enduring partnership between the military, local government, and public and private corporations. That we can put together and contribute to the common good. Not only for the protectors, your soldiers, but also the ones they are protecting, the people.” Visaya added.