The chairman of the board at American Samoa's LBJ Hospital, Charles Warren, says subpeonas being issued to the financially-troubled medical centre have come as a surprise.
The Senate Health Committee is issuing subpoenas to the hospital to obtain financial records and get testimony from chief financial officer David Deprin.
The committee reportedly decided on this route after it failed to obtain from the hospital, specific details on payments, costs and other information in order to find out why the hospital continues to face medication shortages.
But Mr Warren denies that they've been unco-operative with the Senate and says the board only received a letter requesting budget details last week...
"What they're asking for were the details of the 2006 budget. They didn't have a deadline on that. We knew we needed to get it quickly to them while they were in session so the CFO's working on that this week. We have other key issues that he's working on also that took priority. For example we've received notices from the US internal revenue services that the hospital still owes them 1.6 million. He's been working diligently on that."
The chairman of the LBJ board, Charles Warren
