An audit by the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico (OCPR), led by Comptroller Carmen Vega Fournier, found "irregularities in the administration and use of property acquired" by the Department of Health, under then-Secretary Carlos Mellado, in the purchase and management of a mobile CT Scan machine for the new hospital of Vieques. The six-page report (OC-27-20), dated August 13, stemmed from an investigation prompted by a complaint and was referred to the Department of Justice due to a possible crime.
Health paid $772,400 in two installments toward a $965,500 purchase order from Medical Outfitters PR & Inc., which included $22,500 to transport the equipment from Miami, Florida to Vieques; a 20% payment remained pending. The project committee, led by the then-director of the Division of Medical and Hospital Services and Mellado, authorized the purchase knowing the equipment could not be placed at the old CDT site and that the new hospital, expected to be finished by late last year, was still under construction.
The machine has instead sat unused for 22 months in a trailer in the parking lot of Hospital Universitario Ramón Ruiz Arnau in Bayamón, without proper security or maintenance, limiting access to specialized CT Scan testing for Vieques residents.