yrr,
Support Services
A.
Administration
The effective administration of this division is critical Ito the success
of the health care delivery system.
supplies,
Under this division thelpurchasing of
the, providing of preventive and required maintenfnce,
coordination services for health care is domiciled.
to work closely with all
and the
This divifion will have
the other divisions to meet thei
needs
in an
economical and efficient manner.
In the discussion which follows each area is defined pyoviding their
respective concerns
and responsibilities.
The general
arda of
support
services has been a major problem for the present health delivary system.
It
is felt that by having the support services as a free-standing division a
more uniform and efficient system can be put into place.
B.
Supplies
Supplies have been a perpetual problem for the Marshall
care system.
[Islands health
Because of the lack of supplies some servides have been
discontinued, compromised in quality, or delayed in delivery
At or near the root of this problem is the fact that
ills are not
consistently paid and the outstanding debts have caused man
suppliers to
discontinue service to the Marshall Islands.
in shortages
This has resultei
in various areas from time to time, both in the hospitals] and outlying
clinics and also in premium prices being paid for those supp]ies which are
purchased.
Another
difficult
area
is
that
surrounding
distribution, and consumption of supplies.
the
inventorying,
There is essentially no system
of monitoring and control, particularly with the outlying cligics, but also
in the hospitals.
There have been times when departments woulfi
suppties and they have been told that there was none, only to
that a significant quantity was on hand,
The Adventist Healt
— recently begun working on this problem by taking complete
need certain
discover later
Services has
ventories of
their hospital supplies.
Delivery of supplies to outer clinics has been a problem
from time to
time since it is largely dependent on the copra field ships]
These ships
routinely make stops at the various atolls for the purpose
pf picking up
copra, but can be used to carry supplies to the atolls.
Th@ir schedules,
however, are somewhat tentative, and breakdowns periodically
occur which
can drastically alter their arrival.
St