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Holland america medical care


aizlee
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please be aware that due to the recent merger of Holland America's and Princess's medical departments, passenger physicians on board are NO LONGER from the US or Canada!!

The US and Canadian physicians used on board have all been dismissed by the new medical director who comes from Princess.

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Where are they from? They could be from another country, but be US or Canadian trained. Where are you going with this? More info, please.

 

Roz

Edited by Roz
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Aizlee, since this is your first post, and you didn't ask a cruise question, I assume you have some ax to grind. What exactly is your point, and where did you get this information?

 

Roz

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Here's what is currently on the HAL site:

 

Every cruise is staffed with one passenger physician and medical officers—2 to 4 registered nurses and one crew physician—available for emergencies 24 hours a day. Acknowledged as an industry leader in cruise medicine, Holland America Line carefully screens applicants for shipboard medical staff positions: passenger physicians and nurses must be American- or Canadian-trained and licensed and experienced in emergency medicine. Nurses must have a minimum of four years of recent active nursing experience in emergency or critical care; crew physicians are trained and board-certified in the Phillipines. All staff are certified in advanced cardiac life support. Each Holland America Line ship has a medical center carrying much of the standard equipment found in North American hospital emergency departments. While not a full-service hospital, the onboard medical center accommodates most emergencies and routine medical procedures. The medical center has an examination room, capabilities to perform simple laboratory tests, an X-ray machine, one isolation bed, an intensive care unit with one bed, and one or two additional beds. A pacemaker, defibrillator, cardiac monitor, electrocardiogram machine, ventilator, oxygen and suction unit are included in the medical center’s mini-intensive care unit.

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IMO, I find this to be a rather irresponsible post. Sort of trying to stir up concern (maybe even fear) without useful information to back-up the implications , intentional or not.

 

For one thing, assuming this change is true - why should we be concerned by Princess doctors or Princess requirements for the doctors? What is different?

 

The word "dismiss" also puzzles me as the HAL physicians I met were contracted on a one time basis. Sure some may repeat another year, but for many it was simply a break from their full-time jobs. (Being in health care myself I made a point of learning about their backgrounds.)

 

I am unsure if we will hear from OP again, but if we do I hope she/he will provide some solid information on where this information is from and why we should be concerned about the Princess Medical department appointed physicians. What are their criteria?

 

I myself would be more concerned about where they were trained, Licensed and board Certified, not where they were born or now live. Just my opinion. Many fine physicians in the US were trained in foreign medical schools but successfully passed the requirements to be licensed and Board Certified in the US.

Edited by wander
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Why would I care if the physician was Canadian or American.

 

We don't really care what the nationality is as long as he or she is qualified. Nor do I care if they qualified in Canada or the US. I do care about where they qualified by there is nothing special in my mind about qualifying in North America.

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Interesting to do some "surfing" about Princess medical criteria. While the stated "requirements" are slightly different than the HAL ones quoted above, nothing I read would lead me to any concerns in terms of training. It does appear that Princess has a somewhat more long term commitment for their physicians (2 four month tours in a year). For this I looked up applying to a medical position for Princess. I also read what they say about these folks on their general website.

 

In 2010 (I know that is some time ago.) they received a significant "award" for their medical services on cruise ships. Very positive.

 

Doing this searching about the past and present made this a non-issue for me. It was a very easy process to get information.

 

Krazy Kruisers - I have heard other very complimentary comments about services provided to passengers by the crew physicians from the Philippines as well. Unfortunately some passengers will not see them. The few I have met are just fine.

Edited by wander
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A few years ago I had a life threatening illness aboard a princess ship. The dr was from South Africa ( where apparently many princess Drs are from). I received excellent care from the dr and his staff. Not so good- Mexican hospital- got medivaced back to the states ASAP. So, not to worry if princess level medical care is on HAL.

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If a category of staff is being laid off, especially this type, it is absolutely worth noting on this forum. The criteria used to replace them is absolutely worth noting, if it can be determined

 

If details suggest that the move was done to replace Canadian or American citizens with cheap labor, it gets political and would be more appropriate on another forum.

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Geez folks, why attack the messenger? HAL has long made a point of telling folks that their physicians were all Board Certified/Eligible traumatologists from either the USA or Canada. HAL (not the OP) used this info as a positive issue when compared to other lines who use physicians from many different parts of the world. So now that HAL has simply jumped on the bandwagon (assuming the OP's post is accurate) of the other lines is certainly worthy of posting here on CC. Does this mean the quality of physicians will be better or worse......we have no clue.

 

Hank

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please be aware that due to the recent merger of Holland America's and Princess's medical departments, passenger physicians on board are NO LONGER from the US or Canada!!

The US and Canadian physicians used on board have all been dismissed by the new medical director who comes from Princess.

 

That is not what I was told by my Family Physician who used to doctor for Hal. Just before Christmas he told me he would no longer be able to do it. All hiring is through Princess now and they are on a 6 month contract. That means no doctor in Canada or USA with a practice would be able to participate. I asked him if it meant now all on board doctors would be retired old farts:eek:and he said, yes.

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What is the problem with the fact that the doctors are NO LONGER from the US or Canada. Is the OP suggesting that only doctors from the US or Canada are competent? Or is the OP one of the laid off doctors and is trying to stir up trouble. Or perhaps the OP is trying to increase their post count from zero to one.

 

DON

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You can generally tell when someone has an axe to grind. Boy, I can hear the wheel spinning here!

 

On another topic, I recently concluded a 32 day cruise wherein I had to ask the ship's doctor a question. Entire conversation lasted less than 10 minutes. Received a bill for $45.00 for the 'consultation'. :rolleyes:

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Hank, I don't know if the OP is being attacked, but the fact that they posted something and didn't provide any details makes one suspicious. It looks like a post and run. Where did they get this information? Why is the change being made, if in fact one is being made? What are the implications for us as HAL passengers?

 

Roz

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other than US or Canada. Lots of Asian, Indian, Latino etc. and we get excellent medical care.My family doctor is American and all my specialists are foreign. When I needed medical attention on a HAL ship several years ago, the doctor was from the Philippines and they did more tests than I think I really needed but they wanted to make sure there was no underlying problems. I always ignore a first time poster with a negative comment. They rarely defend their comments or show up again.

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As long as the doctor speaks English and I and (s)he can easily communicate, I don't really care if they are from some other country. There are actually some great doctors from Canada and U.S. and there are also some I would not voluntarily choose to visit for treatment. Good and bad doctors from everywhere.

 

There are a great many doctors from India who train in the best U.S. hospitals.... same for other countries.

 

Edited by sail7seas
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We were served on Princess twice by their medical teams, thankfully for minor issues; one physician was Dutch, the other was British and both were very helpful. Sounds to me like Carnival Corp is consolidating their contracts across their cruise lines.

 

I recall that one of our current World Cruise bloggers shared first gala dinner with the medical officer and her spouse. They may have some new info... or not.

 

I really don't see this change as very impactive, but it is worth noting that HAL used to taut having Canadian and US physicians, probably to make it seem more comfortable to their North American market, not to say that physicians from other countries aren't just as qualified. m--

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please be aware that due to the recent merger of Holland America's and Princess's medical departments, passenger physicians on board are NO LONGER from the US or Canada!!

The US and Canadian physicians used on board have all been dismissed by the new medical director who comes from Princess.

 

I have no problem with this. My two primary doctors were both trained in India. I get better care from them than when I used to have a US trained doctor.

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