19 Jul 2014

American Samoa hospital almost at crisis level

7:37 am on 19 July 2014

American Samoa's governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says the LBJ Medical Center in Pago Pago is reaching crisis levels.

Lolo made the declaration in his fiscal year 2015 budget proposal to the Fono, saying greater scrutiny of the territory's only medical centre is needed.

He pointed to the recent citations by the federal Center for Medicaid and Medicare of operating deficiencies, particularly in nursing services, at the hospital.

Lolo says LBJ has proposed a budget of almost $79 million dollars for the 2015 fiscal year, which about $29 million more than the previous years budget.

He says he couldn't all good conscience submit such a proposal without having the more than 50 percent increase justified.