Dr. Edward Cornett said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s yet to be drafted executive order placing the Department of Public Health under his control to allow the hiring of foreign doctors, specifically at least six from the Philippines, will ease the burden of seeing so many patients among the remaining physicians at CHC, the only hospital on the islands.
“These new physicians will have to be supervised by U.S. or Canadian trained physicians. This means they will essentially be functioning as physician assistants’ which in itself is not a bad thing. However, it does not address the core issue of the severe lack of medical resources here. Will somebody wake up?” Cornett told the Variety in an e-mail.
Cornett said these new doctors would also say the same thing to patients because CHC doesn’t have modern equipment and some medical supplies.
“Bringing more physicians is not the sole answer, just more mouths to say, ‘We need to send these patients off-island. We do not have the equipment or supplies to care for them.’ What good is a cardiologist here? There is no Cath Lab here for angioplasty or stent placement,” the doctor added.
He said the idea to bring in more doctors “sounds good politically” but it won’t answer all the health care problems of the community.
CHC’s medical equipment has been described as merely a “tool box” which offers band-aid solutions to patients.
“The current medical staff is quite able to read an EKG and render medical care with the limited ‘tool box’ they now have. It makes no sense whatsoever. Where are the needed medical supplies? Where is the spiral 64-slice CT scanner for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism [blood clots in the lung — a killer that cannot be accurately diagnosed in the CNMI],” Cornett said.
“Where are the reliable supplies of lab testing material to help physicians? Where is the reliable and immediate access to a consistent blood supply? Where is the blood bank? Where are the needed dressing supplies to be available consistently? The list is horrifying,” he added.
