HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Another pitfall in attempting to meet with the Guam Medical Association has Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero criticizing the president of the association, Dr. Thomas Shieh. In response, Shieh levied criticism of his own, stating in part that the kind of meeting the governor is offering wouldn’t be “productive.”
GMA has been outspoken about wanting to locate a new public hospital at Ypao Point in Tamuning. A major reason for that lies with its proximity, as most medical professionals and facilities are reportedly located in the village, and would only be a short distance away from Ypao Point.
This clashes with the governor’s vision for a medical complex, which will need a larger property to include a new hospital and other medical facilities. The governor is proposing to place the complex at Barrigada/Mangilao on land owned by the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission.
There have been multiple attempts to meet between the governor and GMA, all unsuccessful so far. On Wednesday, the governor’s office published a release lamenting another failed attempt at meeting with the association.
The governor will be holding a meeting with physicians and providers on Nov. 27 at the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa. According to Adelup, just hours after an invitation was extended to GMA, the group’s executive director stated that the meeting date “will not suffice” as many members “are occupied and busy with patients.”
While the executive director proposed a later date, on Dec. 3, the governor will be away on a federal mission, according to the governor’s office.
“The administration has made numerous attempts to schedule a meeting with GMA President Dr. Thomas Shieh. Dr. Shieh has stated repeatedly in media interviews and legislative testimony that he would gladly meet with Gov. Leon Guerrero to provide input,” Adelup stated in the release.
Shortly after that, within the release, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero essentially claimed that Shieh cared more about his clinic than the island’s health care as a whole.
“While Dr. Shieh only represents a small portion of our island’s medical professionals, I am disappointed to hear him speak so emphatically about the ‘lack of input’ from the medical community yet (he) repeatedly declines our invitations. He clearly has no intent to meet, as he remains more focused on the longevity of his Tamuning clinic than the advancement of our island’s overall health care system,” Leon Guerrero stated in the release.
In response, Shieh stated it was GMA that reached out to the governor to meet, and added that the type of meeting she’s proposing isn’t the kind they want.
“Truth be told, we invited the governor to dinner to meet (on) Nov. 21, for a heart-to-heart discussion to share ideas, and find solutions to health care. She accepted, and then she cancelled. We then moved it to December. She said she can’t. Instead, she’d like to do a ‘presentation on Nov. 27,’ but it’s the same presentation to other venues. We don’t think that is productive,” Shieh said.
The doctor also shared several emails showing that GMA reached out to the governor to set up a meeting date. Invitations were set out for late October and – after the governor could not make the October date – on Nov. 21, as Shieh stated.
While there is now this public discourse over meeting times and availability, Krystal Paco-San Agustin, the governor’s spokesperson, did acknowledge earlier this month that GMA officials had reached out to Adelup with a meeting date. The governor’s office offered an alternative date and time, but that didn’t work out, according to Paco-San Agustin.
The Guam Daily Post does not know the dates and times associated in this case, or if they differed to the dates Shieh provided.
Shieh also provided an email showing the GMA executive director’s response to Adelup, after it was stated that the governor would be away in December. The director asked Adelup to let GMA know if the governor can meet from Dec. 5 through Dec. 12, or if the acting governor would be available while Leon Guerrero is away, reiterating that many of the group’s providers won’t be able to attend the “presentation” on Nov. 27. The director also made the same remark about the “presentation” being the same one made at other venues, and how GMA believed it would be better to have a “heart-to-heart” talk over dinner to share ideas and find solutions.
The governor has been hosting informational meetings with various sectors of the community to drum up support for both the medical complex project and a measure that would facilitate the sale or lease of land for its construction.
The meeting set for Nov. 27 is another informational meeting, and will proceed regardless, the governor’s office indicated. Invitations were also sent to members of the Guam Medical Society, Guam Nurses Association and individual health care professionals, the governor’s office added.
“We will continue to make attempts to work together for the betterment of the whole of Guam, and I remain committed to providing information to our island’s health care professionals – some of the most important stakeholders in this endeavor. I encourage members of our medical community to join me and learn more about our efforts to build a hospital and a Guam medical complex outside Tamuning to support the island’s growing population, expand the services we provide to our people, ensure equity for southern residents, and work together towards the evolution of the health care profession and workforce to support Guam and our region,” Leon Guerrero stated in the release.
But Shieh indicated that doctors are looking for a more intimate discussion on ideas, rather than the “same old on-the-road ‘propaganda'” meeting, which is how he described the informational meetings.
Such meetings are not productive, Shieh added, before questioning why the governor appeared “so afraid to just sit down” and have a “heart-to-heart discussion and sharing of good ideas.” He commented that this displayed “such a dictator style of government.”
“We are looking to (do) a more sit-down, heart-to-heart discussion to find solutions and share ideas, but it appears Gov. Lou keeps running away. We don’t send press releases to fight. We want to share our ideas and to work together, but the governor only wants to do things her way. Until today, we have been telling her that the ‘medical complex’ is already built, and it’s all surrounding Ypao (Point). All we need (is) a hospital there, but she just won’t listen,” Shieh said.
Lou Leon Guerrero
