But, he said, it will be up to RHC management whether to continue the services of the nurses whose contracts have already expired.
The Department of Labor earlier revoked the permits of the medical personnel hired by SEAS for its failure to pay them, but this was “stayed” after Gov. Benigno R. Fitial declared a state of emergency to allow the reprogramming of funds for the nurses on Rota and Tinian.
The government has yet to pay SEAS for the medical personnel working on Rota and Tinian.
The contracts of five of the 10 SEAS-hired medical personnel assigned to RHC expired in June.
Variety was told that the nurses with expired contracts are willing to return to work.
RHC resident director Crispin Ayuyu was not available for comment yesterday, but Reggie Quiming, the nursing department head, said SEAS-hired nurses had not reported back to work.
The nurses decided to stop working because of the absence of a new contract which might expose them to legal liability.
Quiming said the operation at RHC was not disrupted as they continued to “maximize” their manpower resources.
The three nurses from the Commonwealth Health Center already left RHC on Saturday after they were assigned to the island for a week.
Quiming said they currently have three nurses and eight assistant nurses.
One of the assistant nurses is assigned to a health clinic while the other is on vacation, she said.
