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CHC rehires its in-patient pharmacist
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Posted on Sep 23 2008
The Commonwealth Health Center has rehired pharmacist Anthony Raho, who headed the in-patient pharmacy for 12 years.
The re-hiring should allow the in-house CHC pharmacy to open during the next few weekends, said Alex Gorman, lawyer for CHC and the Department of Public Health.
The pharmacy has been closed on the weekends due to a lack of staff. With the rehiring, it should be able to open on the weekends until Oct. 8, when the other pharmacist leaves, Gorman added. The pharmacy provides all the medicine to the hospital. PHI, a private pharmacy, is also located in the hospital.
Gorman said Raho, who is traveling from the U.S. mainland, should start work on Thursday.
“We’ve always been in discussions [with Raho],” Gorman said. “We’ve been going back and forth since February.”
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial did not renew Raho’s contract earlier this year. Fitial’s failure to renew Raho’s contract was due to a salary cap problem, Gorman said. Currently, professionals have a salary cap of $50,000, but Gorman has drafted a bill to raise the cap of health care professionals in some circumstances.
CHC is “working out some things to meet the salary demands” of Raho, Gorman said, adding that he could not go into details about the salary discussions.
Also, the hospital is currently in discussions with a doctor who is also a pharmacist, but first they must work out the legality of the contract, Gorman said. The doctor is willing to work weekends, which will give the pharmacy full coverage, he said, adding that the hospital continues to seek other full-time pharmacists.
There were no major problems with the in-house pharmacy being closed on the weekends, Gorman said, although advanced planning was necessary to make sure the proper medications were ready for the weekend.
