Joaquin S. Torres, Roy T. Rios, Anthony H. Aguon and Pedro Q. Dela Cruz took their oath of office in the governor’s conference room at 12 noon.
They recommended Babauta to Fitial to be the corporation’s CEO.
Fitial then administered Babauta’s oath of office.
After a brief recess, the board, unanimously elected Torres as chairman.
The trustees then proceeded to the Commonwealth Health Center’s conference room for their first board meeting.
In a statement issued later, Fitial congratulated the board members and the new CEO.
He wished them well as they undertake the “monumental task of salvaging the debt-ridden Commonwealth Health Center and seek to restore solvency by beefing its collection of outstanding hospital charges.”
“It has been quite a long journey to get to this point, but I am confident that the new board and the new CEO will serve our people to the best of their abilities,” Fitial said.
He added, “There is a great deal of work ahead of the corporation, so it is very much important that they get fully organized and address the many issues that have been plaguing our lone hospital.”
The governor also expressed hope “that in due time, the new corporation will be able to restore solvency with regards to their finances, especially since the FY 2012 appropriation law only provided $5 million as seed money to get the corporation going.”
Asked if more funding will be made available, Fitial said the corporation will have to request the Legislature “and it will be up to the lawmakers to decide.“
Sen. Frank Q. Cruz, R-Tinian, said he is happy that the trustees have already been sworn in. Now that the corporation is in place, he hopes that it can work more efficiently compared to when CHC was under the the government.
Cruz, who chairs the Senate Committee on Executive Appointment and Government Investigation, is also happy that Babauta was selected as CEO.
He said Babauta is very respected and knowledgeable in the healthcare field.
“I’m pretty sure that with his talent and wisdom he will help bring quality healthcare to the commonwealth,” Cruz added.
Cruz said he hopes that Babauta will seriously look into issues facing the health centers on Rota and Tinian.
The senator recalled that when the governor declared a state of emergency for CHC, it included Tinian and Rota health centers.
So when $1.7 million from the Commonwealth Development Authority was provided to the Department of Finance to address CHC’s lack of reagents and other medical supplies, the problems of Tinian and Rota health centers should have also been addressed, Cruz said.
The Tinian health center, in particular, is having problems with its medical providers, he added.
“I hope Mr. Babauta will look into the problems at the Rota and Tinian health center, especially their medical providers. We all know it is very hard to find medical providers with limited resources,” Cruz said.
