European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 16, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 3 incentive pay boost for of guns Falls Short of solving All problems by Janet d Agostin medical writer while a $6,000 boost in incentive pay might per Suade More military obstetrician and gynaecologists to stay in uniform Many women still face Long Waits for routine appointments and find some medical services unavailable at military hospitals several doctors said. Hie change in incentive pay is having a positive effect on morale said or. It. Col Manuel t. De Jos Santos who recently attended a conference of military of gent in the United states. But it docs not solve other problems that prevent doctors from working efficiently such As a Lack of secretaries and a shortage of nurses said do los san tos assistant chief of obstetric and sync cology at the Frankfurt army regional medical Center. The of gyn shortage has forced a system of priorities that May exclude some patients from getting any care at All said or. Col Mark Arner of gyn consultant to the army surgeon general in Washington. Women who May be excluded from care arc Dod civilian wives of retirees retirees and  Cre wives because Active duty women have priority for care in military facilities. The shortage has forced the closing of obstetric and gynaecological services at several military hospitals in the United states including army hospitals at fort Leavenworth kan., and fort Hua Chuca ariz., and Navy hospitals Al Newport . Long Beach Calif and Corpus Christ Texas in Europe the shortage Means that few military doctors have time to treat women for infertility and that some service members wives who Are pregnant must deliver in local facilities. We try to treat some Active duty women for infertility but we have to evaluate the importance of a woman with a Pelvic mass compared to a woman who cannot get pregnant said or. Maj Stephen Jones chief of obstetrics and sync cology at he army Hospital in Augsburg. It also Means Long wails for Dod civilians and serv iccmembcra1 wives for routine services such As Pap tests and gynaecological exams at some military Hospi tals and clinics. Maj Gen. Richard Travis commander of 7lh medi Cal come said wailing Lime for routine non emergency care has lengthened this year and that one solution to the problem has been to Send patients to civilian hospitals. R the number of of guns in the army has sunk to its lowest level in 10 years Arner said. Estimates arc that this month the army will have Only 157 of the 210 of guns considered optimal for staffing. The Navy has been losing of guns for the past several Yean and for fiscal 1988 was 38 doctors Short of the 139 authorized for that specially. The air Force has 18 of guns fewer than the 1 s3 it is authorized. Of guns arc dissatisfied with the military for Many reasons bul discontent heightened this Spring when they became the Only surgical specialists not Eli Gible for a maximum incentive pay Bonus because the department of defense did not consider i hair skills Many women have to go on the Economy for their treatment essential for War. The decision Only confirmed a feeling held by Many of guns that Dod did not value their surgical skills As highly As other specialist. But military surgeons provided an analysis showing that of guns could do 68 percent of the expected wartime tasks that would be assigned to general surgeons. -.". In october or. William Mayer assistant Secretary of defense for health affairs added some senior Mili tary obstetricians and gynaecologists in the list of those having critical wartime specialities making them Eligi ble for $6,000 More per year in medical incentive pay the new provisions mean that some of guns with More than six years of service will receive 116,000 in incentive pay this year up from the previous limit of 110,000. Mayer set one condition for the doctors to receive the higher pay they must attend the wartime Surgi Cal skill enhancement raining program. Incentive pay targeted to specialities designated As critical in War is one of four kinds of special pay used to keep salaries of military doctors relatively competitive with average earnings of civilian physicians. However the pay still is Well below what could be earned in he private sector. The boost in incentive pay won t solve the immedi ate problems caused by the shortage Arner said but is a step in the right direction and perhaps a signal of More changes to come. Travis said it is too Early to Sec results from the increase but that it appears the army May have More of guns next summer. However much will depend on the results of the Bonus package he said other problems cited by military doctors include a shortage of nurses for labor and delivery and the Nur Sery Lack of support personnel such As secretaries and inadequate Access to graduate medical education and medical courses. A shortage of nurses in Frankfurt often Means the labor and delivery unit cannot be used to capacity and patient must be sent to German hospitals. Do los Santos said it is unfair to Send a woman to a German Hospital when for the past eight or nine months of her pregnancy she has been treated in a military Hospital. Although women Are advised prior to i hair due Dale to find a German Hospital As an alternative few follow that advice he said. Or. I. Cmdr Kevin Andrews head of the of gyn department at the naval Hospital in Naples Italy said the shortage of of guns is not a problem for the Navy in Europe but the shortage of support personnel is. Andrews said he must spend valuable patient time cleaning and preparing inc examining rooms a Job which should be done by other support personnel. He aim is frustrated by having to use outdated equipment and putting up with a Lack of supplies in the operating room because of the Lime in lakes to order and receive such materials. He plans to leave the serv ice at the end of his tour. Or. Maj Richard Cardenas who is chief of obstetrics and sync cology Al the land Dihl army regional medical Center said he did nol see the pay increase As a vote of Confidence for of guns. They Are now paying us As much As they Are paying the other surgical specialities but it does t change the fact that our resources Are diminishing Ihal we have less personnel and that we arc asked to do More with less Cardenas said. If the shortage does not improve having fewer of his colleagues in the army could Compromise patient care he said. ,. Come Littig a Winpon Luht Tif Widi Vine Hwahl Nguoi Horn radio helps link to Kin to Armen a Stoneham mass Jap from a 70-foot Antenna atop his House John Moran beams a 1,000-Watt radio signal to soviet Armenia and helps extend a Chain of technology and sympathy a third of the Way around the world. Moran is among about two dozen Amateur or Ham radio operators across the United states who Are relay ing information Between survivors of the armenian earthquake and worried american relatives. Guzzling Coffee and Chain smoking cigarettes the 53-year-old former air Force officer is spending 20-hour Days in his wheelchair at a desk piled 3 feet High with radio and computer equip Mem.  i Vegol about two More Days before crash he said tuesday the fourth Day of Bis Vigil. Then somebody else will have to Lake  with Telephone lines either Down or jammed with Calls Ham radio opera tors have become he fastest and most reliable link with the soviet cities of Leni Nakan Soltak and Kiro Vakan where the dec 7 earthquake killed at least 55,000 people and injured thou Sands More. Stoat people Are getting through by phone to Yerevan,1 the armenian Capi Tal said Dikran m. Kaligian executive director of the armenian National committee based in the nearby Boston suburb of Watertown. Bul right now Ham radio is the Only Way to actually make Contact wild the stricken areas and have someone find out for you whether your relatives   facilitate the Exchange of information Moran said the soviet govern ment has relaxed a longstanding Rule against Ham operators transmitting messages to or from third parties. In 36 years As a Ham operator Moran estimated that he has spoken More than 3,000 times to counterparts inthe soviet Union. But until the earthquake he said the conversations were always about innocuous subjects such As the weather radio equipment or the operator s family being Able to pass messages to peo ple in the soviet Union this is some thing that is unprecedented in Ham radio he  a paraplegic has full use of his arms and seems to be in constant motion twirling dials tapping on a computer keyboard answering the Tele phone and speaking in an even re assuring voice into his prize Vinyl Nguc 1933 round microphone. The Chain he has helped to form be gins with armenian american families. They give the names and addresses of relatives to the armenian Relief society of North America which has 65. Chapters across the country. The Relief society passes the names on to the Ham operators who Contact colleagues throughout the soviet Union to seek information. For most of the past week for exam ple Moran has been in nearly constant Contact with Viktor Gonchar Lcy a him operator in the ukrainian cily of Lvov who Speaks English Well and has a pow Erful transmitter. Goncharsky in turn is in touch with Ham operators in  have been collecting information in person by Telephone or with hand held radios used by Rescue  so far the news has been mostly Good. It was a great Relief said John Gulbankian 21, of Southboro who Learned sunday via the Ham network that his 23-year-old sister Carolyn was unharmed. She sent us a Telegram to say she was of but we did t get it for two Days and we were really  although no deaths have yet been reported through inc network it prob ably will not be Long before we come to that said John Mugerdichian with the Relief  Moran the family assistance Effort is nothing new. A former broadcast Engineer for commercial radio and Tele vision stations he has unusually sophisticated Home equipment and has joined in Relief networks after other disasters including last summer s jamaican Hurricane and the 1985 Mexic City earthquake.  since a spinal injury from mortar fire in Vietnam gradually worsened and confined him to a wheelchair in 1977, he said he has spent most of his time either fighting for the rights of the handicapped or talking on the radio i personally never realized it unlit i got on the boat myself he said but there Are a lot of people out there who Are isolated at Home and Ham radio gives them 4 Way to reach out to people around the world. A disaster like this is sad but in gives you the Chance to show thai americans