Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez said the spaces are available to private clinics interested to offer their services to the people.
“A couple of years ago, nobody showed interest in these spaces but now, we have received inquiries from at least three individuals who showed interest to bid on the spaces for private clinics,” Villagomez said.
“Soon we’ll put out a bid so everybody who is interested will have a chance on the spaces,” he added.
For sometime now, he said, the Department of Public Health has been aiming toward working with the private sector in providing sustainable health care to the people of the CNMI.
With the shortage of doctors, Villagomez said that they need the cooperation of private sectors to lessen the load and address health care issues.
Public Health earlier said if private clinics will provide services at CHC, the hospital can concentrate on treatments that require major surgeries and operations.
Currently, CHC has 31 full time doctors.
Villagomez said to be fully functional, the hospital needs 12 more.
But he said if they can work with the private sector in providing quality health care and services, they will not need to hire additional doctors from off-island anymore.
“If we incorporate the services of the private clinics, we would need only about 25 to 30 doctors to fill up the slots at the emergency, surgery, pediatrics and other departments,” Villagomez said.
