But despite the CNMI’s generous deal with Saipan Employment Agency Services, or SEAS, some patients still felt neglected or abandoned apparently because they were left on their own after they were brought to the hospitals.
Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan said many patients referred to Manila are not familiar with the city.
“A lot of these patients have never been to the Philippines. They were just dropped off at the hospital and felt slightly abandoned. We put on additional hardship to the patients,” he said during yesterday’s House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare’s oversight hearing on the Department of Public Health.
But Medical Referral director Ronald Sablan said 98 percent of patients referred to Manila are satisfied with SEAS which has three vans on standby for CNMI patients.
More than 25 patients from the CNMI travel to the Philippines every month.
Most stay at least two weeks and others stay as long as seven months, depending on their medical condition.
The disclosure abut SEAS and how much the government pays the firm was made after Saipan Republican Rep. Rosemond B. Santos made the inquiry.
Santos and other lawmakers, including Committee Chairman Ralph DLG Torres, expressed questions about the government’s contract with SEAS.
“The contract needs to be re-evaluated,” said Torres, R-Saipan.
Sablan said a medical coordinator should be hired to oversee patients from the CNMI because SEAS’ contract is limited to transporting patients between the airport and the hospitals.
But he said this move would cost the CNMI more.
According to Torres, “The situation at Public Health is unacceptable. There’s no reason why we still lack doctors. There’s no reason why we should spend $724,000 on medical evacuation alone when we should be allocating those resources to improve public health. That in itself is one of our concerns.”
He added, “[Medical Referral director] Ron Sablan answered the questions truthfully. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Acting Public Health Secretary John Tagabuel led nine other department officials who appeared at yesterday’s oversight hearing.
The department earlier submitted a 65-page document to the committee which contains information about its operations and expenses.
Representatives from the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Public Auditor were also in attendance.
Today’s continuation of the oversight hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. instead of 9 a.m. in consideration of the State of Judiciary’s Address set for this morning.
