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‘TMC’s new Guam hospital could help NMI with urgent care’
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Posted on May 16 2012
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
The Fitial administration said the $220-million private hospital that The Medical City is currently building in Guam will help provide CNMI patients urgent care instead of sending them to farther places such as the Philippines, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland.
Press secretary Angel Demapan said Monday that Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and other jurisdiction leaders welcome the development of a new hospital in Guam and view it as “an opportunity to receive urgent care in a more timely manner.”
The Medical City was one of the presenters at the last Micronesian Chief Executives’ Summit held in Guam. It is currently building the Guam Regional Medical City, to be completed in 2014.
This comes even as the Fitial administration looks to privatizing the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
Demapan said it was TMC that offered to assess the viability of turning the CNMI’s only hospital into a private entity.
“The governor, upon conferring with [chief executive officer Juan N. Babauta] and the [CHC] board, accepted,” he said.
Some lawmakers said it’s appalling that the governor seems to be the one “running” CHC when there’s a CEO, but Demapan said the “governor is exploring all options to ensure that healthcare in the CNMI is not compromised.” He also pointed out that the governor placed CHC under a state of emergency.
Demapan said the governor and Babauta discussed TMC’s visit prior to its arrival on island.
THC’s assessment is supposed to take about six weeks.
“When it comes to healthcare for the people, it’s a matter of life or death. It’s not appropriate to take the usual ‘wait-and-see’ approach. Healthcare is a priority and if it means that the administration must step in, then step in it will. Right now, the governor just wants to ensure that the right decision is made in the best interest of the people’s health and wellness,” Demapan said.
He declined to categorically state whether the administration will award a sole-source contract for the hospital’s privatization or put it up for bids, merely saying: “CHC is under a state of emergency.”
“Under a state of emergency, the administration is expected to respond to the crisis by taking all actions necessary,” he added.
