5
4.
Medical Officers and Medical Doctors
Medical Officers and Medical Doctors provide the consultation for
outpatient services at the hospital as wel] as the inpatient care of the
medical
and
surgical
patients.
The
recommended
minimum for
each
hospital at Majuro and Ebeye is one general surgeon with one or more
general practitioners.
permits
the
minimum
As soon as the work load demands and staffing
recommendation
would
provide
one
surgeon,
one
internist, one pediatrician, one obstetrician/gynecologist and one or
more general practitioners.
doctor
to
do
itinerate
Such a level of staffing would allow one
service
for
consultation
and
continuing
education of the medical assistants on a scheduled visiting basis to
each
atoll.
Complicated medical
and surgical
cases requiring more
skilled care or highly specialized services would be referred to Hawaii,
Guam or mainland U.S.A. for tertiary medical care.
Such situations
would be few and infrequent.
The supervision of medical officers and medical doctors is done by
the medical director in charge of hospital services and by formalized
scheduled
peer-review
continuing education
conferences.
is
provided
A
in
degree
of
the form of
supervision
and
consultations
and
referrals for tertiary care when required.
The training of medical officers is recommended to be at the Schoo]
of Medicine of the University of the South Pacific
in Suva,
Fiji.
Several medical officers in the Marshalls have been trained at this
school
but currently there are no candidates
in
training.
It
is
strongly recommended that selected candidates be sought and enrolled as
soon
as
possible.
completion
of
examinations.
high
The
current
school
and
program
passing
has
the
entry requirements
University
of
Entrance
The program is five years, with the first year being
basic science studies on the main campus of the University of the South
Pacific and the remaining four years at the School of Medicine.
Of the
final. four years, the first is preclinical basic science followed by
three years of clinical study and experience in medical/surgical areas.
Study is currently being undertaken to expand the training program to
seven years which would result in a fully qualified medical doctor with
the M.D. degree.