‘DPH not hiring midwives, nurse midwives’

The Department of Public Health is not hiring midwives or even certified nurse midwives as claimed earlier by the department, according to a concerned local resident.

Christi Omengebar, a mother of one, said that what the department told the media about beefing up efforts to recruit midwives and Labor and Delivery nurses contradicts what the hospital is actually doing.

“If you go to www.medhunters.com, you will find and see that the Department of Public Health is not even trying to recruit midwives or even certified nurse-midwives,” she said.

She said that, of the 28 postings and announcements that DPH has published online, the only one closest to the midwife position is a health staff for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

“I have yet to come across anything that proves this statement of deputy secretary Pedro Untalan’s,” she said.

The website posts positions for Physician Anesthesiologist, Physician for Emergency Medicine, Physician for Internal Medicine, Radiologist, Substance Abuse Professionals, Mental Health Counselor, among others.

Comments from DPH were not immediately available.

Omengebar and three other individuals held a support rally outside the Commonwealth Health Center yesterday at 9am in time for the World Health Day. She said what they did was a show of support for the Fijian midwives and a call to retain these midwives.

Omengebar has already released a petition letter to retain the services of the Fijian midwives and to preserve the practice of midwifery in the CNMI.

She started gathering signatures last Wednesday and so far has gathered more than 500 signatures as of yesterday afternoon. She continues to gather more support from the CNMI public.

The petition letter seeks the attention of the CNMI Board of Nurse Examiners, the Department of Public Health, the 14th NMI Legislature and the Office of the Governor and the Lt. Governor to retain the job positions of the Fijian midwives.

In her petition, Omengebar said that midwifery continues to be a nurturing service that past and present generations have received. The letter asks the government to respect the right of women to be cared for and attended by competent midwives.

Earlier on, she said that removing these midwives would be a huge loss for the CNMI, the hospital, families, future mothers and their future babies, “because the care women receive from the midwives is totally different from what they receive from a registered nurse.”

There were originally 12 Fijian midwives serving at the hospital but four of these have foreign endorsement licenses that will expire this June. This means they are now required to take and pass the NCLEX exam.

Two have already resigned early this month and another two have expressed their intention to leave the service.

Four other Fijian midwives will also have their foreign endorsement licenses expire next year and two will have their licenses expire in 2007.

Under they law, a nurse or midwife can practice in the CNMI for a maximum of four years without taking the NCLEX exam, so long as they are licensed by foreign endorsement. After that period, they must take and pass the NCLEX.