DPH’s Villagomez wants Fijian midwives to stay

If acting Department of Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez could have his way, he would like the Fijian midwives at the Commonwealth Health Center to stay and continue their services to the island community.

Villagomez told Saipan Tribune yesterday that he would review the status of the Fijian midwives and look at a way to retain their services, which would mean adopting a new set of licensing regulations for them.

“There is no question regarding their ability and contributions,” said Villagomez.

The acting secretary said he is closely working with the Attorney General’s Office to address the issue.

He said they would have to sit down and determine the correct licenses for the Fijian midwives. Right now the midwives are covered under the nursing licensing requirement of the hospital.

“I want to make sure they practice under the right licensing [requirement],” Villagomez said.

There were originally 12 Fijian midwives serving at the hospital. Four resigned last year, while four have foreign endorsement licenses that expired last June. Four other Fijian midwives will also have their foreign endorsement licenses expire this year and two will have their licenses expire in 2007.

In order for them to remain at the hospital the regulations are requiring the Fijian midwives to take and pass the NCLEX exam.

Earlier reports said that under the law, a nurse or midwife could 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.

In April last year a concerned citizen and a mother Christi Omengebar released a petition letter to retain the services of the Fijian midwives and to preserve the practice of midwifery in the CNMI.

She reportedly gathered more than 500 signatures. The petition letter sought 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 asked 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.