But Villagomez, the documents added, “should have carried out due diligence of the contractor’s work by assessing and ensuring that the millions of dollars spent on everything inside and outside the building was worth every penny before accepting the building.”
The documents came from some of the individuals involved with the controversial $22 million project.
“If the secretary of public health signed off the building then most likely the secretary of public works signed it off too, and first. Seriously, if this building has structural problems and may be unsafe for occupancy, why did the contract to proceed with the hemodialysis project went ahead?” the documents stated.
Villagomez has been on medical leave since May. No Public Health official could be contacted to comment on the issue.
According to the documents, CNMI patients undergoing dialysis treatment would have suffered more medical complications had the Department of Public Health transferred them to the yet to be opened dialysis center because the facilities’ defective reverse osmosis system was ridden with bacteria.
There was suspicion among authorities that the water storage for the reverse osmosis system was actually carbon media tanks and were never converted as multi-media tanks.
Only the labels were changed, the documents stated.
It added that Public Health does not have the expertise to deal with the technicalities of the hemodialysis system and the reverse osmosis, or RO, system, thus, the problem went undetected until recently.
Besides the defective structural design of the center, authorities also suspect there were irregularities in the materials used for the project which was funded by federal funds.
There were indications that the PVC fittings and pipes of the RO system were over glued and had internal flakes, further exposing dialysis patients to infection.
Public Health later told lawmakers that the dialysis center’s certification for its RO system was forged.
Last June, former Attorney General Matthew Gregory filed a complaint for professional malpractice and breach of contract in federal court.
The lawsuit is asking the court to order Leo A. Daly Company to pay the CNMI $10 million in damages.
Gregory said Leo A. Daly’s defective design of the dialysis center rendered the facility useless for its intended purpose.
