Villagomez said the cancellation of the flights will increase the costs of maintaining the government’s medical referral program.
The flight service “was a win-win situation” that allowed CHC to transport critically ill patients to Manila instead of Honolulu, he added.
Continental is ending its Saipan-Manila flight service on July 13, citing economic reasons.
Villagomez is hoping that Continental reconsider its decision and to continue the Saipan-Manila flights even on a weekly basis.
He requested the Fitial administration to discuss with the U.S. Department of Transportation the possibility of allowing the Philippine Airlines, which has a Manila-Guam flight service, to fly to Saipan.
According to Villagomez, CHC wanted to include Japan in the local medical referral program, but the hospitals there do not recognize CNMI medical insurance.
Emergency treatment remains the primary concern of CHC, he said.
CHC patients can still be brought to Manila via Guam, but this may be a problem for the escorting nurses without U.S. visas, Villagomez said.
The CNMI can request a U.S. military plane from Okinawa, Japan to transport medical referral patients, but only to U.S. jurisdictions, he added.
“We have to look for opportunities to transport patients at a very low cost,” he said, adding that “we can’t close down the medical referral program.
Bringing off-island medical specialists to CHC is an option, but the hospital still has to send critically ill patients that need the attention of a medical and surgical team, Villagomez said.
CHC gets $4 million annually for its medical referral program and sends an average of 10 to 15 patients off-island every week.
The program spends some $10,000 on each patient and the escort, Villagomez said.
For an emergency situation, CHC sometimes has to charter a flight to Guam which costs $45,000 for every patient.
CHC also has to form a logistics team that can attend to the patient.
