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APIL forms health council
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Posted on Jul 23 2004
Recognizing the need for regional cooperation to improve public health services, the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures is forming a regional health council that would formulate strategies and plans of action to regionalize health resources.
[The council] should also identify potential ways to maximize the efforts of medical referral offices of each entity to meet the health needs of our islands,î states an APIL resolution.
The council would be composed of representatives of the islandsí healthcare oversight bodies.
This developed amid plans to put up a regional medical facility on Guam, which was reached by the chief executives of the CNMI, Guam, Palau and Yap during a recent summit on Guam.
The APIL resolution recognized a common concern on the shortage of doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals in the Pacific region.
The APIL noted a common high incidence of non-communicable diseases on the islands, which include cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Due to the ongoing struggle to provide adequate healthcare in the area of specialties, our people continue to seek treatment off-island away from home,î states the resolution. ìWe must put effort into decreasing duplication so we may be more cost-effective in our efforts.
The resolution called for collaboration among the islandsí learning institutions on matters of research, training and development in the provision of healthcare.
CNMI House vice speaker Timothy Villagomez leads the APIL, which is composed of lawmakers from 12 governments, as association president. The group convened on Guam early this week.
The associationís lawmakers come from12 Pacific governments such as the CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap, Marshall Islands, Palau, Hawaii, Nauru, and Kiribati.
