A new private hospital being established on Guam is expected to ease a burden on the territory's health services caused by a lack of doctors, nurses and beds.
Health care statistics on Guam show there is a growing demand for hospital services by the ageing population, which is forecast to make up the majority of the Guam Regional Medical City's patients.
A spokesperson for the hospital, Carlos Pangelinan says thousands of people seek medical care off island each year.
He says the new hospital means fewer people will have to travel for treatment and there will be significant improvements to health services with 130 new beds and more doctors and nurses.
"I think there'll be a larger number of specialist physicians here. We particularly have a problem with longer term care needs. A lot of the specialists that do come here, they usually are here temporarily. We think that we're going to be able to bring a lot of them here and keep them here longer."
Carlos Pangelinan says the 200 million US dollar hospital is expected to be ready by August or September.