Ebeye, anc thereby reduce the substantial volume of
seconitary and tertiary care currertly provided in
Honclulu.
The pla: cails for a training procgrar for
medical assistants ans higher-level Marshallese mecical
personne]
and for irproved supply and facilities
Maintenance.
The plan relies primarily on local
transportation facilities, notably service by the
Airline of the Marshall Islands where available,
and or field trip ships and chartered vessel service
elsewhere, rather than the provision of dedicated
surface vessels or aircraft.
Improved radio
communications between the medical staff at the hospitals
and the medical assistants on inhabited islands anc
atcils would be essential, not only for the exchance
of necessary medical information and instructions but
also for decisions as to emergency medical evacuations.
This alternative provides a suggested organization
of the health-delivery system of the Marshall Islands,
with the United States playing a major role in the
direction and management of the program but preservince
local authority and participation.
The estimated cost for the first year of this plan
would be 510,908,300, of which $3 million would be
funded by the Marshall Islands Government.
The second alternative contained in the Loma Linda
proposal is comprehensive medical care for only the
peoples of the four named atolls of Enewetak,
Rongelap,
Utirik, and Bikini.
This alternative would provide
improved primary care on the four named atolls and on
other islands and atolls where peoples from these
four atolls now reside.
This alternative, like the
first, provides for the improvement of the secondary
and tertiary services at the hospitals on Majuro and
Ebeye.
The hospital-service improvements would provide
the necessary support for the primary care system and
would reduce costs associated with medical referrals
out of the Marshall Islands.
The estimated cost for the first year of the
proposal for provision of special care for the peoples
of the four named atolls is approximately $10,603,700,
of which $3 million would come from Marshall Islands
Government funds.
This estimated first-year cost is
Close to the estimated first-year cost under the
first alternative because much of it reflects the cost
of improving services at the hospitals at Ebeye and
Majuro which would be required under either alternative.