‘DPH in need of more health professionals’

The Department of Public Health said it still needs more technical and professional health workers at the Commonwealth Health Center.

Public Health Secretary James U. Hofschneider said that since 2002, the requirement for health service workers still remains the same.

He said CHC is heavily dependent on off-island workers to fill technical and professional positions in order to run the facility and render quality service to the entire CNMI community.

He said continued dependence on off-island hires has been very expensive to the community as hiring them require housing allowances, recruitment and repatriation costs, constant turnover and unstable staffing, which translates to unstable services, among others.

He encouraged students to take up medical and health-related careers in college.

Among the technical and professional personnel needed at the hospital are:

* Technicians and technologists, specifically medical lab technicians and technologists, radiology or x-ray technicians and technologists, ultrasound or echocardiography technologists, mammography technologists, CT Scan technologists, hemodialysis technicians and operating room technicians;

* Therapists who are certified and registered (respiratory therapists and physical therapists);

* Medical records personnel who are certified, coding specialists, medical transcriptionists and registered records administrators

“We need more healers,” Hofschneider said in yesterday’s orientation of five high school students who have been selected for the Health Career Occupation Program in Hawaii in June. He said people delivering health services are important to the community.

Hofschneider related that when he assumed his post as DPH secretary in 2002, he had said that a more proactive, aggressive and comprehensive approach to human resources development is needed and this requires the concerted efforts of the local community, educators, policy makers, business community and administrative leaders.

“We need to empower our young people to help mitigate our dependence on off-island hires and include them in our healthcare community,” he said in his letter addressed to all high school principals in 2002.

He said his previous statements remain the same and true for the department.