The Medical Committee for the new 40-bed hospital to be built in Tafuna makes the point that, “If the Governor and Chief of Staff still choose to build the planned facility, that the entire proposal be reviewed by the US Department of Health and Human Services in Washington DC.”
It says, “No town in America with 50,000 people has two thriving acute care hospitals. Such a choice, says the committee “is economically burdensome. And American Samoa should not go down this path. If the wrong decision is made, the cost will be paid by the children and grandchildren of American Samoa.”
The Committee, comprising doctors and nurses of LBJ Hospital and Department of Health, reiterates that the planned 40-bed hospital cannot be built with the allotted budget of $200 million from ARPA. After completion, “there is a high risk of failure for this facility as it lacks the population base and funding to have sustained profitable operations.”
The committee calls the plan for the proposed hospital “unrealistic and [says] it will fail.”
It says, the original plans is flawed and was presented without any reference to the US Army Corps of Engineers report recommending that the best solution for American Samoa is to upgrade the existing hospital.
The committee’s executive summary says the initial medical LBJ physicians who promoted the new hospital had no training and experience in health planning, and the briefing materials provided to the Governor to support the original plan were misleading and deceptive.
As an example, the committee says the ARPA grant contained a suggestion for a helipad and to institute an emergency helicopter patient transport service.
“This is a very expensive idea. Airflight medical transport services for American Samoa would be used infrequently. The operational costs are high due to helicopter maintenance and 24-hr airflight staffing,” says the committee. It adds that “The inclusion of helicopter services in the original grant submission is evidence of the lack of training and experience by the original grant submitting team.’
The committee lays out services that will be added by, both, the LBJ and Department of Health to lift health care standards using the $200 million, if the governor decides not to go ahead with the new hospital.
And it recommends the creation of an acute rehabilitative and chronic care medical facility, to provide new and critically needed services.
Some of the services to be provided include cancer chemotherapy treatment, mental health, dementia and Alzheimers programs, addiction recovery, stroke and cardiac recovery, chronic apnea services and end of life care.
Members of the Medical Committee for the new hospital project are:
- Dr. Elizabeth Lauvao
- Dr. Aiga Sesega
- Dr. Saipale Fuimaono
- Dr. Ronald Yip
- Naomi Walinski-King
- Aiga Mareko RN
- Josephine Fuga RN
- Dr. Akapusi Ledua MD
- Dr. Joseph Shumway MD MPH
- Dr. Abraham Leiato MBBS
- Dr. Robert Gayapa MD
- Dr. Olita Koria-Laititi MBBS
- Dr. Fiatele Porotesano-Avegalio MBBS
- Simamao Tuatoo RN DON
- Rosamma Finney RN
