By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

COMMUNITIES in the Pacific rim are depending on Guam for healthcare services, hence the need to expand the medical landscape on island, according to a health official from the Marshall Islands.
 Deborah Atwood, associate administrator of the Marshall Islands’ Ministry of Health, calls on government and community support for the new 120-bed hospital project being initiated by the Hospital Development Forum.
“I’m interested in this initiative from the standpoint of somebody coming from the Marshall Islands, where I live and work. I hope that Guam will become a strong medical referral destination for patients from the Marshall Islands,” Atwood said.
She said the Marshall Islands has a small medical facility that caters to a population of 60,000. Patients who can’t get the medical services that they need are referred to off-island facilities in Hawaii or other countries, which is a costly process.
“We all struggle with having to provide healthcare and having little services available. A new hospital on Guam will provide an opportunity to establish Guam as the central and key player in the entire Pacific Rim,” Atwood said.
Critics say establishing a private hospital on Guam may kill the Guam Memorial Hospital on presumptions that it will take the paying patients away from the government-run hospital. This won’t be the case, however, Atwood said.
“Hospitals are not legally allowed to turn down nonpaying patients. The new hospital will have to accommodate MIP patients, which means that it will take away some of the burdens from GMH,” said Atwood, who is also the chief financial officer of the Trinity Health International, a faith-based nonprofit health care institution.
With two hospitals, Guam will become a medical destination for the rest of the Pacific islands, therefore, GMH will equally share a windfall from the new stream of patients, Atwood said.
Darryl Cunningham, regional director of Trinity Health International, sees the forum’s project as a promising venture.
Cunningham and Atwood came to Guam upon the recommendation of the Department of the Interior. “They contacted us to see if we may have an interest in exploring the possibility of a new hospital and evaluate the capability of the group,” Cunningham said.
He acknowledged the challenges that the hospital forum is facing. “In any community, building a new hospital is a huge undertaking and a risky business. It is a high-technology driven business. It’s more difficult than building a hotel,” he said.
But Cunningham, who worked with GMH as a service consultant from 1990 to 1993, agreed that there is a need for Guam to expand its healthcare services to meet the needs of a growing population.
“The demand for healthcare service exceeds what GMH can provide. The demand will further increase when the military presence here expands,” Cunningham said.