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CHC loses another doctor
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Posted on May 12 2009
The chief medical officer of the Commonwealth Health Center resigned early this week, claiming personal reasons for leaving.
Dr. Divya Sharma said she submitted her letter of resignation last Monday, May 11, to the office of Public Health Secretary Kevin Villagomez.
Sharma said that Pedro T. Untalan, the Deputy Secretary for Hospital Administration, is already aware of her impending departure.
Saipan Tribune tried to obtain comments from both Villagomez and Untalan yesterday but they have yet to respond to the e-mail request.
Sharma said it’s about time for her family to go back to the U.S. mainland.
She said her husband, Michael Thomas, is also ready to submit his resignation today. Thomas, who is on sick leave, works as a Systems Administrator for DPH.
Sharma said it is extremely sad for them to leave, especially at this time when the Commonwealth Health Center is lacking personnel.
“It’s just that we have to go. It’s purely personal,” she said.
HRSA scholar
A recent article on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website had featured Dr. Sharma as a product of an HRSA scholarship.
In exchange for a two-year scholarship for University of New Mexico Medical School from the National Health Service Corps she agreed to work in an area with a great shortage of health care providers, in this case Saipan. After medical school, she completed her residency in Internal Medicine from the University of Virginia and moved to the CNMI.
She and her family—a husband and two young children—moved to Saipan more than two years ago.
The article can be accessed at http://www.hrsa.gov/ourStories/sharma.shtm.
Short-staffed
The CNMI’s lone hospital is currently having problems in hiring medical staff. Currently, it only has one general surgeon instead of two and it has no nephrologist, or kidney doctor.
Insiders said that by June 1, there would only be three internists when there should be eight.
Sharma said the family is planning to leave by the middle of next month.
DPH is actively recruiting another fulltime general surgeon for CHC.
DPH is having difficulty in its recruitment because of several issues like the CNMI’s remote location and the smaller salary it offers.
