Repairs and maintenance of hospital equipment stopped

Equipment repair and maintenance at the Commonwealth Health Center came to a screeching halt early this month following the failure of the cash-strapped healthcare corporation to pay its vendor.

Saipan Tribune learned yesterday that Pacific Biomedical Services Inc., which has been maintaining the hospital’s equipment for more than a decade now, put on hold all their services effective Jan. 15 until the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is able to come up with a payment plan.

A copy of the company’s contract shows that CHC pays the company about $20,000 a month to repair and maintain the hospital’s equipment, except for the hemodialysis units.

Sources disclosed that the company was last paid in September 2011, which would mean that payments have been delayed for about four months now.

Saipan Tribune tried to obtain comments yesterday from the corporation’s chief executive officer, Juan N. Babauta, but he did not respond by press time.

In the past 15 years that PBSI has served CHC, sources said this is the first time the company suspended its services after failing to receive any word from the corporation.

PBSI is a locally owned company. According to sources, it is not demanding full payment of the obligation but is seeking an arrangement and negotiation with the corporation.

According to the company’s website, it is primarily engaged in repairing and maintaining electronic and precision equipment such as medical diagnostic imaging equipment, measuring and surveying instruments, laboratory instruments, and radar and sonar equipment.

Hospital employees interviewed by Saipan Tribune yesterday disclosed that because of the temporary stoppage of PBSI’s services, they fear that this would lead to more serious problems.

They shared that on a daily basis, “biomeds” from the company usually do the rounds in all units and sections of the hospital to monitor all equipment, including EKG machines, cardiac monitoring machine, and blood-pressure apparatus, among others.

CHC employees emphasized the importance of this maintenance service as it prevents “wrong and inaccurate” diagnosis.

PBSI is only one of the many service providers at the hospital that are experiencing delays in their collections of payments. In an earlier interview with Babauta, he estimated the unpaid obligation to hospital vendors at over a $1 million as of January 2012.

The corporation was allocated only $5 million in seed capital this fiscal year. It has already asked the Legislature for more funding but there has been no action on this yet.

The lack of funds is also hampering the corporation’s efforts to hire more people, buy enough supplies, and address other immediate needs at the hospital.