Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez said the new machine from the U.S., purchased with local funds, was already being shipped to the island.
“It’s not going to be air freight because it is big. So as soon as it is here, we’ll get a timeline of when [the hemodialysis center] is going to be opened,” he added.
The federal government allocated $5 million for the construction of the hemodialysis center next to the Commonwealth Health Center in 2004.
The cost, however, reached $22 million due to constant change orders regarding the building’s design.
In 2009, the FDA certification for the reverse osmosis machine was found to have been faked.
The building’s design was also said to be flawed and a case was brought against the firm contracted to do it. The case was eventually settled.
California-based sales representative Jesse Chung Wu, who sold the machine with a fake FDA certification to Saipan Ice & Water Co Inc., which the CNMI government contracted for such purpose, advised the federal court in March he would plead guilty to a wire fraud charge.
