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Fitial, Babauta check out lab expansion at hospital
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Posted on Dec 21 2011
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. officials made a surprise visit at the Commonwealth Health Center’s laboratory yesterday to check on the progress of improvements being done at the facility.
Corporation chief executive officer Juan N. Babauta said that the laboratory’s renovation will address, for one, the numerous Medicare citations that find the laboratory not meeting its standards and requirements, particularly in terms of space.
The governor and Babauta were accompanied by some members of the management team and board chair Jack Torres in their inspection. Fitial was seen personally asking staff about specific functions of the laboratory and how certain processes are done.
He was told that due to budget concerns, key laboratory positions have been left unfilled for quite some time now. These include, among others, a laboratory manager and lab technicians. Babauta assured that this will be the corporation’s next priority.
According to Babauta, the lab renovation and expansion was initially projected to cost $35,000 but they decided to just tap their in-house personnel to do the work, bringing down the cost to $4,000.
“We decided to do it in-house, which means we utilized our own local employees and maintenance to do the work. We practically saved about $30,000 for CHC,” he said.
Among the renovation work is the creation of a wider cashier station. It was Fitial’s first time to see the improvements yesterday and he said he is pleased to see the changes.
Besides the laboratory expansion, the corporation is also considering privatizing some hospital departments, such as the dental department and the cafeteria and kitchen.
