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DPH has renewed contracts of nurses
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Posted on Nov 23 2006
Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin P. Villagomez denied rumors that the Commonwealth Health Center is experiencing a shortage of nurses and even boasted that he has been renewing contracts left and right the past several weeks.
He said he has been signing at least 11 to 15 employment contracts for nurses every two weeks for the Public Health Office.
“There is no shortage of nurses,” he said, adding that there are currently 142 nonresident nurses working for the hospital, while there are only 120 nurses that are locally hired.
“This number is enough to cover the hospital,” he said, adding that these nurses are spread out across the hospital. A shortage of nurses will only occur on a per department basis. He said the nurses have specific assignments. Shortage will take place only if nurses in the department leave.
Villagomez said some nurses have left the hospital for greener pastures in the U.S. mainland.
Villagomez said the hospital has been hiring nurses from the Philippines, and that all 142 nurses are competent, of high quality and are highly trained. He said the Northern Marianas College, the only training ground for students interested in the healthcare industry, does not produce enough nurses for the requirement of the Commonwealth.
“The Philippines produces a lot of quality nurses. We would continue hiring from off-island because we still don’t have a local pool of nurses,” he said.
Villagomez said the nurses hired from the Philippines opted to work in the CNMI instead of the U.S. or anywhere in the world due to the island’s proximity to their homeland. “For a lot of them the CNMI is very close to home.”
