PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Information Service): April 18, 1997
– FSM Acting President Jacob Nena in an April 11, 1997, letter to
Congress Speaker Jack Fritz informed Fritz that he has signed into
law Congressional Act No. 9-149, designating it Public Law 9-143.
It appropriated $280,753, from the General Fund of the Federated
States of Micronesia for Fiscal Year ending September 30, 1997, to
settle outstanding medical bills in Houston, Texas, for FSM President
Bailey Olter.
President Olter became ill and was hospitalized in mid-July in
Pohnpei last year then was evacuated to Straub Clinic and Hospital in
Honolulu, Hawaii, where he underwent a critical but successful brain
operation. In October last year he was further referred to the
Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (IRR) in Houston, Texas.
President Olter was discharged from IRR and immediately flown on a
U.S. Military Medical Flight to Pohnpei on February 25, 1997.
He is recuperating steadily since he first arrived home in
Pohnpei, but he has not been able to resume his official duties.
