Fitial wants a more specific recruitment plan from DPH

Fitial wants a more specific recruitment plan from DPH

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said yesterday he received a draft plan from the Department of Public Health on appropriate recruitment strategies in connection with his Oct. 20 declaration of health emergency for the CNMI that will pave the way for the hiring of doctors from outside the U.S. and Canada.

“They gave me a draft but I asked them to change it because it's very vague. There is no clear delineation of duties and responsibilities,” he said.

Fitial is supposed to meet with DPH officials on the issue yesterday.

The governor, in his declaration, ordered DPH to immediately adopt new recruitment strategies to restore an adequate level of medical services at the hospital.

He also directed the Medical Profession Licensing Board, which is now known as the Health Care Professions Licensing Board, “to review and revise regulations so that expanded medical services may be provided to the client population of the Commonwealth” within 15 days of the Oct. 20 declaration.

The Health Care Professions Licensing Board is set to have a regular board meeting at 12:30pm today in conference room #3 at the Dr. Jose T. Villagomez Center for Public Health and Dialysis Center. One of the items on the board's agenda is the “CHC emergency declaration.”