Most of the patients being referred off-island, he added, can be treated here before their condition gets worse.
“There was no follow-up in the beginning, and so the disease got worse. We have to stop these diseases by treating them early,” he said.
The Commonwealth Health Center has at least three areas of destination for its medical referrals, he added.
These are the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii depending on where the medical case can be treated best, he said.
According to Villagomez, the common diseases that need medical referrals are cancer, diabetes and complications of diabetes.
As of December, he said the Department of Public Health had already spent over $4 million for medical referrals.
“We always monitor our medical referral expenditures to make sure that anyone that needs to be referred can get referred anytime,” he added.
Villagomez said they pay health providers on time so there patients are not denied medical referral services.
