But no officials from the Tinian Health Center could confirm that Dr. Steve Lebamoff now no longer works at the center.
Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz, however, confirmed the resignation of Lebamoff who got a one year contract.
“Yes, he has resigned,” the mayor told Variety when sought for his comment.
In a separate interview, Tinian Health Center administrator Freddy Hofschneider neither confirmed nor denied the resignation report.
He said the leadership of the health corporation will answer any query about the operation of the center.
As of press time, the corporation had yet to respond to Variety’s email.
Dela Cruz said since the healthcare corporation took over the operation of the health center from the mayor’s office he’s already taking up “hands-off approach” concerning any problem arising from the center.
Now the mayor’s office has “no big role” in the operation of the health center, he added.
Ben Borja, former Department of Public Safety resident director, said the government should address immediately the problem about the lack of physicians.
“It’s good that we still have a practitioner who takes care of our patients,” he said, referring to Tinian family nurse practitioner Arley G. Long.
Like Saipan, Borja said residents in Tinian also need medical assistance, adding that “it’s hard to deal with people with different kinds of sicknesses now.”
Lebamoff has been a long-time physician on Tinian since the administration of former mayor Francisco Borja and in the early part of former mayor Jose San Nicolas’ administration.
He replaced Dr. Priyawathan Wijay, who left the center last year.
