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Liaison office in Manila eyed for Rota and Tinian
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Posted on Apr 30 2005
If Saipan refuses to set up a liaison office in Manila for its referral patients, then Tinian and Rota may just go ahead with it, according to two senators.
Senators Joseph Mendiola of Tinian and Luis P. Crisostimo of Saipan said Thursday that they are set to leave for Manila next week to conduct an onsite inspection and assess the future of the CNMI’s medical referral program in that country.
Crisostimo said it is part of the trip’s goal to establish a sort of liaison office in Manila “for Tinian and Rota.”
Crisostimo has been supportive of the setting up of the liaison office, while fellow Saipan senator Pete P. Reyes has been adamantly opposed to it due to funding concerns.
When asked to elaborate on the planned Rota and Tinian liaison office, Mendiola said, “I think we should do it for everybody. All medical referral systems should get assistance, but if the CNMI central government is not going to do it, we [Tinian and Rota] would probably do it using local funds.”
He said the Senate delegation to Manila includes Senate Health Committee chair Henry San Nicolas.
“We’ll look at the Guam program, too,” he said.
Five CNMI senators, including Mendiola, earlier visited Guam to learn about its medical referral program in Manila.
Mendiola said that Guam refers an average of 25 patients a month to Manila hospitals and spends some $100,000 a year. Guam uses an agent in Manila to facilitate the treatment of Guam referral patients.
“We can put out an RFP and do it like Guam,” said Mendiola.
A House bill, authored by Rota congressman Crispin Ogo, and which proposes to set up a liaison office in Manila, is pending at the Senate.
Ogo earlier said that such an office would be ideal, not only for referral patients but also for other patients wanting to seek treatment in the Philippines.
“It’s safe to have our own office there to assist our patients, especially those who are going there for the first time,” said Ogo.
Ogo, at the same time, said that the Department of Public Health has began a “trial” medical referral arrangement with a Manila-based hospital.
Further, Ogo said the department has been pursuing partnership with a private company to assist CNMI patients in the Philippines.
