The medical referral program

The Issue: Is there an alternative to medical referral in the first fifty years of the next millennium?

Our View: Not quite but there’s a lot we could do to reduce serious long-term illnesses.

A question often asked by many is: When can the NMI health system retain fulltime specialists so we could do away with the medical referral program? The answer is obvious: Not for quite a long time given that we can’t afford the salaries of medical specialists. For instance, the salary for a pathologist-person who operates dead people to determine causes of death-is not less than $150,000 a year, if not, more. Other medical specialties are even far more expensive than meets the eye. It is for this reason that the NMI and GovGuam share in the cost of a medical pathologist.

Another valid query raised is: If CHC is privatized, wouldn’t that translate to better medical attention or health care. Yes, however, it would be very difficult to privatize the public hospital (CHC) today given that it isn’t feasible at this juncture in terms of profitability. For CHC to be privatized, the NMI must have a population of at least 250,000 to support a large privately-run health care facility.

Is there anything that we can do as a community to cut down long-term illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and serious heart-related and other serious ailments? Definitely!

We can begin by treating health as a personal responsibility. It means we must individually and collectively adopt healthy lifestyles such as a drastic reduction in the consumption of animal fat, sugar, and salt. It means eating more vegetables, fruits and white meat found in chicken, turkey, pork (without the fat) and lots of fish. It definitely means we must stop smoking and cut out alcohol consumption altogether.

Understandably, it’s hard starting on the road to reducing fat, salt and sugar consumption given the local tradition of family gatherings that revolve around wonderfully prepared local dishes. It’s often too good to pass up and not when families, relatives and friends may be offended if we refuse to gobble it up the usual local splurge. It calls for a kid’s pair of gloves how not to offend our host and with the new fad on dieting, you can talk your way out of it. It’s really up to you!

At least, the younger generation have started talking about dieting, a work out at the gym and other healthy habits. Let’s start with them. They’d serve as our advocates of healthy lifestyles at the dawn of the 21st Century. Merry Christmas!