Guam - The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse owes the Guam Memorial Hospital close to a million dollars for medications given to patients for years 2007 and 2008. GMH Spokesperson Connor Murphy says it was brought to light last month when the federal management team met with GMH hoping to restart an arrangement where the hospital would be the purchasing agent for patients.

But Murphy says the hospital agreed that it wouldn't be beneficial for either agency, telling KUAM News, "What we told them was that it probably won't be beneficial for either one of us. We are having problems trying to make timely payments to our vendors, so sometimes we charge higher prices and it wouldn't be beneficial to have that affect them."

Half of the million dollars comes from medications purchased during those years and the rest come from dietary services provided. Murphy says now that mental health has the authority to spend cash, GMH will be resubmitting invoices to ensure the dues are paid.

As a result of the lack of payment, GMH has been behind in paying its vendors.