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CHC now has 33 physicians
Muña: By next month, we will be fully staffed with physicians in all departments
As part of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s recruitment and retention plan, the hospital now has 33 physicians, with 10 newly recruited doctors joining the hospital pool, according to CHCC’s chief executive officer Esther Muña.
Muña told Saipan Tribune that eight midlevel providers assist the 33 physicians.
“We will be fully staffed by next month,” she said.
Muña said that seven physicians are Internal Medicine doctors, six are pediatricians, four are in emergency medicine, three are general surgeons, three are anesthesiologists, one is a nephrologist, three are for OB/GYN, one is a psychiatrist, four are family practitioners for each facility on Tinian, Rota, the Kagman Community Health Center, and CHC, and one is a gastroenterologist.
“We are now focusing on providing specialist care for our residents. CHCC is seeking options for providing this care via agreements with medical groups from off-island,” Muña said.
According to her, CHCC’s still needs specialists in orthopedics, cardiology, oncology, and neurosurgery.
Muña did note that recruitment is more costly than retention and that replacing physicians varies but can cost up to $50,000 per recruitment.
In related news, despite the challenges of hiring more staff for the hospital, CHCC has been hiring more nurses.
“We hire from the Philippines, U.S, and locally,” Muña said.
She noted that they would be having a strategic planning this Aug. 6 and 7 and that the corporation board has been invited to attend the session.
Muña said that they would be using this session to plan on how to meet the mounting healthcare needs of the CNMI as well as the staffing of the hospital.
