|
Two medical specialists will be coming to Majuro and Ebeye
starting from the end of next week, and Rongelap and Utrik
islanders are being urged to see them. The Department of
Energy (DOE)/Pacific Health Research Institute (PHRI)
Special Medical Care Program will be bringing Dr. Rob
Williams and Dr. Brian Palafox.
They will be visiting the Marshall Islands May 13-May 19
(Majuro: May 13-May 15 and Kwajalein/Ebeye: May 15-May 19).
These two physicians will be seeing DOE patients and, as
time permits, family members of the DOE patients. They will
also consult on additional cases referred to them by the
doctors in the RMI as time permits.
Both are teaching physicians and can assist the RMI
physicians and, most importantly, provide continuing medical
education to the medical staff, according to a release from
the program.
Williams is a Board-certified doctor in pediatrics,
intensive care medicine and anesthesia.
During his trip, he will see the dependent children of
the DOE patient population and others as time permits and
offer his assistance with the upgrade of the intensive care
units in Majuro and Ebeye, assist with any intensive care
patients that are in the hospital, and work with the
surgeons on difficult surgical cases from an anesthesia
standpoint.
He will also be assisting Dr. Palafox with special
surgeries. Dr. Williams served in the RMI from 1986-1989 as
a National Health Service Corps physician and is very
familiar with the state of affairs within the RMI and the
DOE patient population in general, the release said.
Palafox is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon (heart,
lung, vascular (places, blood vessel grafts for dialysis).
He was the first surgeon in the Pacific to do patent
ductus heart surgery in Micronesia in the 1980’s. He has
worked in and is familiar with the RMI, the release said. He
is also able to do thyroid surgery and general surgery.
He will be working with Dr. Williams to triage the
difficult surgical cases of the DOE patient population and
others as time permits. Dr. Palafox can also see heart
patients to let them know about the necessity and
practicality for any heart surgeries (including bypasses),
thyroid surgeries, gastrointestinal surgery, or amputations
that are being contemplated by patients and the medical
staff. |
