The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. says it is working right now on obtaining new hospital equipment, including a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging unit that is used to take detailed pictures inside the human body to help diagnose or monitor treatment.<\/p>\n
CHCC chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a said during a recent news briefing that building new facilities at the hospital as well as expanding existing once is in the works. \u201cWe\u2019re working with the Governor\u2019s Office on that. The only challenge, of course, is that it will take a lot more time,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
However, the project is still in its planning phase so CHCC has yet to determine when the project will start and when it would be completed. Because it is such a large-scale project, Mu\u00f1a said that CHCC will prioritize certain areas first. The focus for now will be to expand the CHCC operating room, add more suites, expand the intensive care unit, add a multi-level parking structure, expand the existing dietary unit and, most importantly, building a place to house an MRI. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an investment in public health. We\u2019re planning on placing an MRI unit across the street so it is still close to the hospital. We definitely need an MRI. Obviously, diabetes, hypertension, [and] cardiovascular illnesses are some of our top cases here in the CNMI and we need to be able to diagnose early and treat early, so an MRI is definitely necessary. Even with oncology, we have seen that there\u2019s a definite need for the MRI,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Mu\u00f1a explained that CHCC and the CNMI administration is determined to upgrade the hospital as it is over 30-year-old and can no longer accommodate a population of over 50,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe facility is over 30 years old and, at the time it was built, we had a population of about 15,000, so at this point in time, to have four ICU units just doesn\u2019t make sense. We\u2019re talking about a 76-bed hospital. With this population of 50,000 it\u2019s inadequate, it\u2019s insufficient. You need to be able to have more, and when we have patients waiting in the ER, for example, waiting for a bed, you know that that shouldn\u2019t be happening,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said it is the administration\u2019s priority to get this project off the ground for the sake of public health. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a priority of the CEO and this administration to prioritize our healthcare. My administration will definitely be prioritizing the need to expand our hospital, whether it\u2019s the emergency room, operating rooms, ICU, or the new building we want to build to house the MRI and CT scan as well as the hyperbaric chamber. We are working hard to meet the request on the need for the expansion,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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