Make Saipan a healthcare hub

I am currently in Honolulu, Hawaii with my wife and our youngest daughter on medical referral. I was reading the online editions of Saipan newspapers and KSPN News and came across the article on shortage of doctors at our local hospital.

It seems to me that things are turning for the worst at our only island hospital, with doctors resigning and relocating elsewhere. I believe the quality of healthcare in the CNMI is at its most dismal stage ever. I highly respect the management at CHC as they are doing the best they can with the limited resources at their disposal. I have been here in Honolulu since April and during time I spent here escorting my wife for her treatments, tests, and lab works, I must say that there is a long way to go for our CHC to be able to catch up to the quality medical care that private hospitals and clinics are providing here in Honolulu and across the state. Yes, you can say that there are charitable contributors to these private clinics and hospitals on an annual basis and also the federal funds that do come to these facilities.

My concern is and always will be is the fact that there have always been talks of creating a regional medical care facility for our area. Time and time again, there are always talks being conducted at different levels of government but until now, there is no definitive plan in coming up with a real regional health care facility so that our CNMI community or even folks from Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Belau, and the Marshall Islands can avail of such a regional facility comprising good physicians and other related jobs to make the facility competitive with the ones in Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

Just from my observation and information from the medical referral staff here in Honolulu, during the month of April 2009, there were about 25-30 CNMI patients referred here. You can imagine what impact that will have on the cost of medical referral. Yes, we do acknowledge that there is and will always be a running deficit in the budget of the medical referral but the bottom line is that we lack the facilities and specialists at CHC. Our CHC is not up to the standards of health care as those here in Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

Given our limited resources, the salary for doctors with different specialties is low compared to the nationwide average and that is one factor why we cannot entice professionals to come to the CNMI. The salary and fringe benefits are not there and that is one of the reasons why they are unable to come even though we offer them the adventure of a lifetime. In most of the states in the mainland, one has to drive far distances just to experience beach life, let alone lie down in white sandy beaches. Here, all that one needs to do is to either drive or even ride a bike or hike down to the closest beach from where he or she lives.

But the bottom line is we really need to re-evaluate the entire health care system and see which areas need overhauling. If it means directing more federal stimulus funds to be able to improve health care, then so be it but it does not mean that the transformation will occur overnight. It will take some time but if everyone put their minds together, nothing is impossible and who knows, our CHC can be known later as the central hub for the best health care regional facility and that will save our community a lot of money and not be medically referred off-island. We will possibly see folks from our neighboring islands and across Micronesia. I know that it can be done but it has to be a total team effort. One has to visit the medical facilities here in Oahu such as the Straub Clinic and Hospital and the Queens Medical Center just to name a few. You will be amazed at how well the medical facilities here are managed and maintained to the highest standards.

Lastly, my wife Rosita and I would like to send our kudos to the CNMI/Honolulu Medical Referral Office for a job well done. To Angel Demapan, Tonie Villagomez, Nadine Hamilton Sablan, Tanya Benavente, Margaret Sablan McQuay, Fuji Suel, and Manny Salas, you guys are wonderful and make a patient’s outlook in life very positive and optimistic. We are forever grateful for all the efforts you guys are exerting. Thanks also goes to Ron Sablan and the Medical Referral Staff at CHC Saipan. Thank you and mahalo nui loa!