Mendiola wants DPH to explain ‘failed’ RFP

A senator wants to call in Department of Public Health officials to shed light on the department’s “aborted” Request for Proposal for an agency to facilitate the referral of CNMI patients in Manila about two years ago.

Sen. Joseph M. Mendiola, chair of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs, said it was surprising to learn that DPH had actually put out an RFP but, unlike Guam, the plan did not materialize.

“I didn’t know that DPH had an RFP. We were not given that information. I’m very curious about all this. We need to call them in and hear from them,” said Mendiola.

The senator earlier expressed excitement over the possibility of the CNMI replicating Guam’s medical referral program in Manila. He said that Guam refers patients to Manila with the help of a private company.

Guam, he said, had put out an RFP and awarded a contract to the company to provide services for Guam referral patients.

Mendiola, together with four other CNMI senators, met with Guam Gov. Felix Camacho and other Guam officials last week to learn about Guam’s medical referral program approach.

Following the visit, Mendiola said that they have become more convinced that having a liaison office in Manila, as embodied in House Bill 14-151, is unnecessary.

Other senators who went to Guam were majority leader Paul Manglona, Senate Committee on Health, Education, and Welfare Program chair Henry San Nicolas, Luis Crisostimo, and minority leader Pete P. Reyes.

According to Mendiola, Guam refers an average of 25 patients a month to the Philippines and spends only about $100,000 a year.

Right now, the CNMI refers less than 10 patients a year to the Philippines. When the CNMI had a liaison office in Manila for medical referral patients and processing of CNMI-bound nonresident workers, the government reportedly spent up to $500,000 a year. The office was closed down about five years ago.

The funding issue is a major factor recently cited by some senators in opposing the revival of a liaison office in Manila.

Mendiola said that, if DPH could copy what Guam is doing in Manila, there is no need to pass H.B. 14-151.

In late 2002, the DPH issued a request for proposal seeking private vendors to facilitate the treatment of CNMI patients in the Philippines. The DPH put out the advertisements in both Manila and CNMI-based newspapers. The department said a winning proposer would provide logistics, ground, and air support to CNMI patients in the Philippines.

By February 2003, the department said that it received four proposers but authorities said the actual awarding of contract never took place. The department did not make public the reasons behind this.

The department recently said it continues to pursue partnership arrangements with Manila-based hospitals for the treatment of CNMI patients.