By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial yesterday said he supports the five-year healthcare plan proposed by private medical investors, but not the creation of a special regional medical board.
The plan’s proponents say the board will allow off-island doctors and physicians to practice here without taking the local medical board examination.
“I am very supportive of the five-year healthcare plan,” the governor said, “but not the creation of a special regional medical board.”
According to Fitial, the plan should instead have a system or standard “which will fit with the existing medical professional licensing board that we have.”
The plan, he added, will still be reviewed by the CNMI Professional Licensing Board.
“I personally believe in the doctors in the Philippines and other places who have received formal medical training and education,” Fitial said, “but it’s a matter of a licensing standard. We need to have a clear-cut procedures in standards.”
A regional medical board, he added, would create a “double standard.”
“It’s similar to what I am facing now in the government which has a double-standard for employees — some are civil service and others are excepted service employees,” Fitial said.
He noted that the CNMI has been sending medical patients to the Philippines for treatment.
“So what’s the difference if we allow these non-U.S. accredited doctors to come in and practice here if they have to work under U.S.-licensed doctors,” the governor said.
The integrated healthcare delivery system approach presented by Sedy Demesa, president and chairwoman of the soon-to-open Emmanuel College, aims to help the CNMI become self-sufficient in terms of medical and healthcare delivery.
The plan calls for the creation of a regional medical board to allow doctors from other countries to practice in Micronesia.
Demesa and Loyola Medical College Foundation chairman Johnny Y. Fong, in their presentation, said it is high time that Micronesian region “synchronize, centralize and consolidate” the purchase of healthcare supplies so that the region can take advantage of discounted or wholesale prices.
The plan proposes the establishment of a regional purchasing arm for this purpose.
Fong said bringing medical specialists and doctors to the CNMI will help reduce the amount spent on medical referrals.