Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a “short-term solution” to address the shortage of doctors and nurses, LBJ Medical Center has implemented a recruitment process to bring additional medical professions on board by the end of the year, with the first ones to hopefully be on staff by this month or August, said LBJ chief executive officer, Moefa’auo Bill Emmsley.

The shortage of doctors and nurses at LBJ has been a long standing issue over the years and previous hospital management and boards of directors have recruited from off island, as local residents complained about the long wait to see a physician at the Emergency Room and some nurses complained about being overworked.

And at last week’s COVID-19 Task Force virtual news conference, Moefa’auo was asked by the news media about plans to hire more doctors for the only medical center in the territory. The CEO responded that plans for hiring more physicians is not a new issue at the hospital, as well as recruiting additional nurses.

Moefa’auo explained that LBJ management’s recruiting plan is already in place in order to hire an additional 20 doctors as well as 20 to 25 nurses by the end of the year. He said it’s very difficult to recruit doctors and nurses — and those in the medical profession — and he said there are many reasons for this, but he didn’t cite any examples.

However, the CEO pointed out that the hospital management is working to achieve its recruitment goal to hire additional doctors and nurses.

He explained that the hospital is looking at this month or next month (August), when the first four nurses will arrive on island in an effort to reach LBJ’s hiring goal by the end of the year.

He emphasized this is the “short term solution” to address the shortage of these medical professionals.

As for a “long term solution”, Moefa’auo said “we have a consistent continuous program to recruit” local residents and he asked that those who are interested in being sponsored to go to the medical school in Fiji and other places, including nursing training at the American Samoa Community College — to step up.

“But those are long term solutions [that] require much broader cooperation, not just the hospital itself,” he explained. “It involves the [local] Department of Education, the College and it involves the interest of the public to pursue these kinds of professions.”

“And those are the kinds of things that we’re working on several fronts to mitigate some of those issues that we’re having difficulty in recruitment efforts,” said Moefa’auo and noted that, “we are continuously putting interest as well as resources, to push those kinds of programs forward for the long term.”