By Vincent Akimoto, M.D.
The governor’s insistence to move GMH to the Barrigada/Mangilao site is being done against doctors’ orders.
Governor Lou Leon Guerrero is stubbornly ignoring the advice of Guam Economic Development Authority’s multi-million dollar consultants, the Matrix group, who deemed the Barrigada and Mangilao sites too far and too expensive to develop as compared to Oka Point.
In choosing the never-developed Barrigada site, the governor is ignoring engineers from Department of Public Works who have advised that the land would require unnecessarily extraordinary civil engineering and backfill in order to make it usable. This is assuming that they somehow don’t find ancient CHamoru grave sites that will completely shut the work down.
By ignoring public consensus, the governor reveals that she does not have the mandate to complete the building of a new GMH. Not a single doctor in the government or private sector has risen to champion her position.
Instead, she has only been supported by the same GMH bureaucrats who lost national hospital patient safety accreditation and who have ignored the Army Corps of Engineers stipulations to fix the current problems at GMH.
Rather than work efficiently, effectively, or collaboratively with the Guam medical community, the governor has taken the losing path of trying to shove her ideas down people’s throats. That ain’t going to get her anywhere quick. She’s wasting her time being a brat and in the meantime, the people of Guam are stuck with a filthy, failing hospital and GMH leadership who have nothing but excuses.
In light of the governor’s acknowledgment of failure at GMH, I believe federal receivership is the only way forward.
Just as GovGuam failed at the Ordot Dump, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero has failed at GMH.
Her plan to move GMH to Barrigada is another waste of time. She has already wasted $6 million and the last 6 years failing to fix GMH.
I say, bring on the federal receiver and bring on the judge. Let the people of Guam see yet again what the true price of GovGuam payroll politics really is.
When Guam voters sell their votes to political patronage candidates, they sell their soul to colonial servitude. Without justice, there is no peace.
The doctors must join the nurses and senators in demanding GMH be fixed now. All financial and personnel resources must be provided to rectify all existing and potential problems identified by Army Corps of Engineers. No one goes on vacation, no one goes home, no one gets to pee until GMH is readied for Joint Commission patient safety accreditation.
2 Comments
Noah Urfacts
10/11/2023 at 3:52 PM
What a bunch of BS from this guy. Wow! His comments are very disrespectful to the harm working people at the Hospital. His character is very arrogant and he need to do better at finding the real info versus made-up lies that are only intended to benefit himself and a few others who don’t know really anything.
Imelda Tanapino
10/12/2023 at 11:38 PM
Your own words pinpoint the problem: “. . . the harm working people at the Hospital . . .”.
This is exactly the problem Dr Akimoto is trying to solve. He seems to want to remove the “harm working” political appointees at GMH and replace them with Federally appointed professional medical administrators who will be effecient and accountable.
Who could object to that, other than someone like you who seems to have a vested interest in the ongoing farce at GMH? Which branch of GovGuam signs your inflated pay check?