Let’s get a few things straight. The feds have their own hiring rules, which involve more review and passing some examination. The feds will not hire local immigration employees unless they meet federal standards. The feds, moreover, are not likely to make funds available for the CNMI government to absorb local immigration employees.
Self-government, in any case, usually includes funding and budgeting responsibilities. It is up to the Fitial administration and the Legislature to identify the funds and authorize the creation of new positions in other parts of the CNMI’s morbidly bloated government.
It gets worse
SOMEONE in the administration has taken on the responsibility of hiring and firing and — in the absence of a budget officer — the budgeting function. Who has assumed these legal responsibilities? The question of whether to retain the in-house pharmacist of CHC, for example, was an unnecessary one. Who were involved in these decisions? The time and energy dedicated to determine whether a cheaper model could be adopted delayed the recruiting process and soured the work experience of every professional at the CNMI’s only hospital.
But administration officials are not done undoing things at CHC. Right now, the CNMI is set to lose its anesthesiologists because top officials can’t stomach paying these individuals the salaries commensurate to their skills. With the anesthesiologists, other medical specialists will go such as the obstetrician-gynecologists who will no longer be able to perform surgeries. In the absence of these positions, every one else goes because physicians will not expose themselves to obvious dangers that come with not being able to perform surgery without anesthesiologists.
But decision-makers — i.e., politicians — want to save money. By their calculations, the salary of just one anesthesiologist can pay for the hiring of 18 additional personnel. Surely, they reason, if the hospital is run correctly, it can get by with just one anesthesiologist. Or maybe CHC can recruit one or even two anesthesiologists for a much lower rate.
CHC, however, for reasons that are obvious to the entire community, cannot hire just one anesthesiologist.
The community must be vigilant. There is a person or persons in the administration legally responsible for making these ill-advised decisions. Lives are at stake. In an emergency, even the most basic life-saving procedures may not be able to be performed without the assistance of an anesthesiologist.
Someone must put on the thinking cap to solve this major problem. Someone must act responsibly to ensure that these life-threatening decisions are not made in the name of senseless budget cuts.
But administration officials are not done undoing things at CHC. Right now, the CNMI is set to lose its anesthesiologists because top officials can’t stomach paying these individuals the salaries commensurate to their skills. With the anesthesiologists, other medical specialists will go such as the obstetrician-gynecologists who will no longer be able to perform surgeries. In the absence of these positions, every one else goes because physicians will not expose themselves to obvious dangers that come with not being able to perform surgery without anesthesiologists.
But decision-makers — i.e., politicians — want to save money. By their calculations, the salary of just one anesthesiologist can pay for the hiring of 18 additional personnel. Surely, they reason, if the hospital is run correctly, it can get by with just one anesthesiologist. Or maybe CHC can recruit one or even two anesthesiologists for a much lower rate.
CHC, however, for reasons that are obvious to the entire community, cannot hire just one anesthesiologist.
The community must be vigilant. There is a person or persons in the administration legally responsible for making these ill-advised decisions. Lives are at stake. In an emergency, even the most basic life-saving procedures may not be able to be performed without the assistance of an anesthesiologist.
Someone must put on the thinking cap to solve this major problem. Someone must act responsibly to ensure that these life-threatening decisions are not made in the name of senseless budget cuts.
