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LBJ wants to tap Health Department funds
Tuesday,
June 23, 2009
The LBJ Hospital wants to tap into federal funding made available to the Health Department to address the critical shortage of doctors and nurses at the hospital.
The Chairman of the Hospital Authority Board Moananu Va said the hospital does not have adequate funding to hire more doctors and nurses and it is exploring the possibility of using federal funding awarded to the Health Department through stimulus funding and other grant programs to help resolve the shortage of medical personnel.
Moananu said the Emergency Room has the greatest need for more doctors but other clinics are short staffed as well. Moananu said that the board is hoping to meet with Governor Togiola this week to discuss their plan to tap into Health Department funds to hire new doctors.
The chairman said that the board will also discuss with the governor its decision to transfer doctors who have not signed up to take the United States Medical Licensure examination by June 30th to other positions in the hospital. Earlier the board had informed doctors that their services would be terminated if they had not taken steps to comply with the USMLE policy by the deadline.
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