CHC in an ‘unstable state’

The Commonwealth Health Center is down to just 16 doctors after losing a significant number of physicians in the last few months.

Esther Muña, public health acting deputy secretary for hospital administration, said yesterday that the hospital is now in an unstable situation, even if the 16 doctors are full-time hires. Saipan Tribune learned that the 16 doctors are being assisted by four physician assistants.

“We’re having a shortage of doctors now and we immediately need at least four physicians to bring our number to a stable [condition],” she said yesterday.

Muña said the hospital urgently needs two pediatricians and two internal medicine doctors to cope with the demand.

In March this year, the Department of Public Health reported that CHC had 27 physicians comprising both full-time and short-term hires. This number went down to 24 in May. At that time, the hospital’s doctor population was still considered stable, according to Muña.

She said they recently lost about four doctors, some of them locums—or short-term hires.

CHC is a 74-bed facility that is Medicare certified and provides both inpatient and outpatient services.

Based on current staffing, CHC has two doctors at Pediatrics; three at Family Practice; three in Internal Medicine; four at Obstetrics-Gynecology, and four at the emergency room, assisted by four physician assistants.

Due to doctor shortage, Muña said that many of their physicians are being forced to work long hours, sometimes even without overtime compensation.

The continuing funding shortfall also prevents them from hiring more doctors, Muña said.

The hospital’s Children’s Clinic was closed down in November last year due to the lack of pediatricians. The facility was partially reopened in February with only two pediatricians and limited services. Muña said the clinic’s full reopening would depend on the entry of more physicians.

DPH was approved last year a J1 Conrad 30 visa waiver designation. The J-1 visa is for foreign nationals to come to the U.S. to do residency training. After completing his/her residency program, under the requirements of the J-1 visa, the MD needs to return to his/her country of origin for two years. After a two-year interval, the individual can apply to work in the U.S. under an H1-B visa. The J-1 visa waiver program is a way for these doctors to avoid returning to their countries of origin and begin working directly after completing their training. However, DPH has yet to really benefit from this process.

The number of physicians at CHC keeps changing as a result of retirement, resignation, relocation and other reasons.