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Off-island doctor said to be interested in Tinian job
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Posted on Jan 19 2012
An off-island physician who has prior experience working in the CNMI and Guam has expressed a desire to work at the Tinian Health Center and talks are now underway to finalize his contract, according to Dr. Michael Deary, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. director for Medical Affairs.
Saipan Tribune learned that Dr. Warren Turner is in communication with Deary about the position and Deary expects positive results from the negotiations.
Turner specializes in family and emergency medicine and is currently in California. According to the UCompare Healthcare website, Turner has 35 years of experience as a doctor. He attended medical school at University of California Irvine College of Medicine and graduated in 1977.
Deary reported to the board on Wednesday that Turner has been in the CNMI and Guam in the past and is willing to come back.
“He is very interested in coming to Tinian. He is an emergency medicine physician and spent some time on Tinian. He is well aware of the place and actually has siblings here on Saipan,” Deary told the board.
He also complained to the board of the difficulty in processing personnel contracts and its impact on the recruitment of badly needed doctors. Deary said that he continues to justify with the corporation’s budget office that the post Turner will taking over is not a new position but a replacement for Dr. Steve Lebamoff, who recently quit.
“The budget officer said [the contract] needs to be certified. I don’t know what that means but it doesn’t get signed,” Deary said.
He disclosed that his attempts to fill pediatrician positions are also being affected by the budget situation. “We have six pediatricians in our budget but I can’t get the contracts out,” he said.
In an interview with Saipan Tribune after Wednesday’s meeting, Deary said he expects to fill the THC position in the “next few months.”
Lebamoff was hired at a time when the Tinian Health Center was still under the municipality’s control. The corporation officially took over the center on Oct. 1, 2011. When Lebamoff resigned, the center was assigned two rotating physicians.
THC accommodates about 50 patients daily during regular work hours.
