“ABSOLUTELY problematic” was how a Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. nephrologist described the Rota dialysis center, which has been sitting idle since its construction over two years ago.

Babauta sent Dr. Sherleen Osman to Rota last month in response to Manglona’s request for an update regarding the status of the hemodialysis project on the island.

A former governor, Babauta said Manglona’s several requests prompted CHC to conduct a preliminary assessment of facility.

Over the last couple of years, Manglona has been following up on the progress of the $1.5 million dialysis center built through federal Capital Improvement Project money.

In a telephone interview, Manglona said he appreciates that Babauta is looking into the problem.

He said it is frustrating that the people of Rota have had to wait this long.

The facility, he noted, was constructed more than two years ago.

Although it does not look like it is going to open soon, Manglona said it’s good to hear that CHC is finally moving the Rota dialysis project forward.

Now, he said, he will have to continue working with CHC to start the operation of the facility so it can treat Rota’s hemodialysis patients.

“This a project that we want to see materialized. Although there’s is still a lot of work to do, I am happy that they are now trying to move this forward,” the Senate president said.

Osman said that due the current condition of Rota’s hemodialysis center, Medicare “will hesitate to approve it.”

She said it needs major renovations and has yet to meet basic building codes and accessibility requirements. There is no parking space for an ambulance. Patients in wheel chairs, she added, cannot get in “without a significant amount of challenges.”

The cross-contamination and infection control rooms are flawed because there is no glass wall, and the reverse osmosis, or RO, system needs to be inspected because she could not take a closer look at the piping system.

She said nobody could say if the RO units are on the floor or on the ceiling, “so I could not visualize the quality or state of piping.”

Osman said that aside from a nephrologist, the facility, once it starts operating, will need two registered nurses, two technicians, a water person, a social worker and a dietician.

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