“I wanted to reach the Philippines alive,” Lamkin said over the phone.
Yesterday, calling from her ward at the Medical Center in Manila, she expressed dismay over the refusal of Ronald Sablan, the medical referral program director, to approve her request.
She wanted to be referred to the Philippines but she said Sablan only approved a medical referral to Guam for a “stress test.”
She said she was advised to undergo an angiogram procedure which is not available on Guam.
The office of Sablan was open until 1 p.m. only yesterday and Variety was unable to get his comment.
Lamkin said she submitted her 2005 angiogram clinical summary and other medical documents as required to justify her medical referral request.
“I am a high-risk patient,” she said.
Dr. Tiffany Willis of the Marianas Medical Center, she added, endorsed her medical referral.
Lamkin said she will be undergoing a cardiac catheterization procedure at the Medical Center in the Philippines.
Her shortness of breath and chest pain started on Aug. 21 during the “Global Prayer for Peace” which she organized on Saipan.
Lamkin said she called up Sablan yesterday morning but was told he was “tied up” and wasn’t able to work on the approval of her medical referral to the Philippines.
Last week, before she decided to fly to Philippines, Lamkin said she asked Senate President Paul A. Manglona’s assistance.
She said Manglona, Ind.-Rota, is a family friend but Sablan later told her that he hated to get a phone call from a politician.
Lamkin said Sablan should make a better determination of the health condition of the patient when making a decision regarding an appropriate medical referral.
Her son, John Raymond Sablan, told Variety her mother’s health condition was “serious.”
“She has been complaining of chest pain,” he said.
Lamkin able to travel to Manila after consulting her cardiologist in the Philippines.
