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DPH can survive under continuing resolution
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Posted on Oct 01 1999
Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez yesterday said despite the Legislature’s failure to pass the budget for Fiscal Year 2000, his department will still survive by cutting down on expenses.
“We will just have to live within our means and make do with what the governor has given us,” said Villagomez.
The health department has appealed to legislators to maintain its current budget of $33.9 million for FY 2000. It recently received an additional funding of $3 million for its medical referral program.
With the tight budget, Villagomez said the department has been trying to maximize federal grants to offset the cost of implementing certain programs.
The Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently granted the CNMI some $206,608 for its tobacco program.
The federal agency was impressed with the goals of the CNMI’s Tobacco Comprehensive State Plan for 1999-2000 program, which includes long-term health care services for CNMI citizens.
The public health chief told legislators in a recent meeting that the department does not want any disruption in its medicaid and medical referral programs.
While it is difficult to run a medical facility with limited funding, he said the department recognizes the need to cut down on government spending with the decline in revenue brought about by Asia’s financial crisis.
A big amount of money for medical referral program has been saved with the hiring of specialists from the U.S. mainland, but some of the cases that they have recently referred for treatment in U.S. hospitals have been serious illnesses and entail huge expenses. For example, one recent medical referral cost the department
$250,000. (Lindablue F. Romero)
