Tinian clinic running on empty

The Tinian Health Center has run out of important supplies such as toilet paper for more than three months now and is unable to send out specimens to and from the island due to budget constraints. These shortages are on top of the clinic’s lack of a physician or midlevel provider in the past several weeks.

All these concerns were confirmed yesterday by Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz, who expressed frustration and worry about the health center’s critical condition.

Dela Cruz said that THC has already asked the Department of Finance to pay close to $200,000 in obligations to different vendors. Of the amount, some $70,000 is owed two midlevel providers who have not been paid for several months.

Saipan Tribune also learned that THC owes physician assistant William Weiss about $40,000 since December 2010. Due to budget issues, Weiss’ service was stopped in April this year.

Another midlevel provider, John Pangelinan, is also owed close to $30,000 in salary for six months.

A midlevel provider is not a physician but is licensed to diagnose and treat patients under the supervision of a physician. On Tinian, they have no contract and only serve the center on an on-call basis, usually during emergencies.

“We owe our midlevel providers tons of money. .They [midlevel providers and other vendors] don’t want to show up because we owe them a lot,” said Dela Cruz yesterday.

Dr. Stephan Lebamoff, the medical director at THC, is on a medical trip to Honolulu for an eye laser operation, Dela Cruz said. Since then, the clinic has had no physician or midlevel providers in the last several weeks, even for emergency cases.

On July 21, the CNMI government declared an emergency for the Commonwealth Health Center on Saipan and the health centers on Rota and Tinian due to a severe shortage of supplies and services. That declaration resulted in the reprogramming of $1.7 million from the Commonwealth Development Authority.

Dela Cruz disclosed, however, that since then, not a single penny has been paid to THC vendors.

He said he contacted and pleaded with Finance Secretary Larissa Larson yesterday for the immediate payment of the center’s vendors and was assured that Finance will work on this with the Department of Public Health.

Dela Cruz said he visited the center on Tuesday and personally witnessed the “grave impact” of operating without the needed supplies.

“The situation I saw was very critical. They don’t even have toilet papers in the restrooms, no fuel to run their vehicles, and they can’t send specimens to Saipan which is very important. Our health center is really struggling and we need to do something or else this may lead to more serious problems,” he said.

Dela Cruz said the municipality immediately sent some supplies of toilet paper and paid for the gasoline of the center’s vehicle.

He also signed an authorization for Freedom Air to temporarily transport the specimens to and from Tinian. All this will be paid using local revenue paid by the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

Saipan Tribune learned THC still owes Freedom Air a significant amount of money for providing the same service.

Temporary doctor

Last week, Dela Cruz asked DPH to send a doctor from CHC to temporarily treat patients on Tinian.

THC chief of staff Freddy Hofschneider Jr. confirmed yesterday the temporary assignment of Dr. Gary Ramsey from Saipan since Tuesday. He declined to comment on other issues at the center.

Although the center is operating under the umbrella of DPH, its operational budget is under the Tinian municipality. It has a total of 15 nurses and accommodates about 50 patients daily during regular working hours.

Dela Cruz revealed that since May this year, the central government has failed to provide allotment for the municipality’s operation, affecting services such as the health center. Of the $4.2 million budget for the municipality, 95 percent pays for the salary of its personnel.

Strategy?

According to Dela Cruz, the “unbalanced” treatment being accorded the Tinian municipality by the central government in terms of addressing critical issues like the health center is forcing him to think that this may have something to do with the bid to pass the casino bill on Saipan.

“I can’t help but think that maybe this is a strategy [of Saipan lawmakers and the administration]-to push us to the wall for the Saipan casino plan,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Despite his repeated appeal and pleas to help “augment” the critical needs of Tinian, Dela Cruz said that nothing has been done up to this time, resulting in the municipality operating on deficit since early this year.