Governor meets with doctors seeking support for Barrigada medical complex

Governor Leon Guerrero continues her public outreach to drum up support for a new medical complex in the Barrigada-Mangilao area.

The latest event was on Monday night at the Hilton hotel, with an audience made up mostly of doctors.

The governor has hosted multiple presentations on her vision to build a new hospital, Public Health and Behavioral Health campus on crown land in Mangilao but this latest outreach was specifically geared toward medical providers.

We've previously reported that key members of one particular group, the Guam Medical Association declined the governor's invitation, but many other physicians showed up, including Dr. Larry Lizama.

“The Governor is the Governor, and she has the right to make the decision about what’s in the best interest of the island, and this is her vision, and I support this vision,” He said.   

Lizama continued, “I agree with the concept of having a complex. I think it's a vision for Guam, a vision for the people of Guam, and we really need to be thinking about that and a vision for the people of Guam. I'm sorry for my colleagues who feel that they have to be the main focus of this hospital. It’s not, it’s for the people of Guam.” 

Other doctors chimed in with similar support, but at least one speaker expressed her preference for the other proposed location Ypao point.

The former head of the Governor's Medical Advisory Board during the pandemic, Dr. Nate Berg, declined to say which site he prefers, but urged everyone to back whatever the final decision is.

“I'm gonna say whatever happens just please put your support behind it, bring your expertise,  and that's it. And I'm actually extraordinarily encouraged by the reasonable approach that everyone's done. And it is a passionate thing. Inside, I have a really strong passion about this but I'm just really happy people are bringing up the issues and saying we'll solve them, somehow we will solve them,” Berg said.

The Governor covered much of the same points as previous outreach events. But Monday night, she added that she'll have more information next week about potential federal funding for her complex.