Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/congress-responds-to-walter-reed-reports Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Officials opened Building 18 of the Walter Reed medical center to the media after reports described mold-covered walls and mice at the outpatient facility. Two former patients discuss their treatment, then Reps. Bob Filner and Christopher Shays react to the situation. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JUDY WOODRUFF: The Army continued its damage control measures today at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Twenty news crews were shown two buildings that were part of the focus of a Washington Post series earlier this week, a series that highlighted rundown outpatient care facilities and a system that neglects many soldiers and Marines.After the Post reports, the Army swung into action, with rapid renovations and a promise to fix up the buildings, which house some 700 servicemembers, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. LT. GEN. KEVIN KILEY, Army Surgeon General: We've got some safes. We've already got the microwaves on order. JUDY WOODRUFF: On the tour this afternoon, the U.S. Army surgeon general, Kevin Kiley, updated the press on the status of Building 18. LT. GEN. KEVIN KILEY: Oh, I think the repairs are going to be done by the end of the week, with the exception of one thing, which is a leaky roof, which we need to wait for the roof to dry. The contractors have already told us we'll get that sealed up. JUDY WOODRUFF: Building 18 was one focus of the report. Its mildew-stained walls and carpeting are still in the process of being replaced.Following the press tour, Kiley again spoke to reporters. LT. GEN. KEVIN KILEY: It is our responsibility to look at the process through the eyes of our patients. And we need to be well-focused on that. And those great, young Americans deserve nothing but the very best health care, which I believe they're getting.I want to reset the thinking that, you know, while we have some issues here, this is not horrific, catastrophic failure at Walter Reed. I mean, these are not good. But you saw rooms that were perfectly acceptable. JUDY WOODRUFF: Kiley also addressed larger issues confronting the Army's health care system. LT. GEN. KEVIN KILEY: I guarantee you that the health care here is of the very highest order and has been. The issues, as you've heard in several press conferences, have been about the quality of life, specifically some of the issues in Building 18, and then the bureaucracy, which is not a function of letting soldiers languish.We're not letting soldiers languish. I think, if you went over and talked to the doctors at Walter Reed, if you talked to the leadership here, they could begin to rattle off a series of issues. The Army is standing ready. We've had Army staff meetings recognizing that there's going to be a team effort, because some of this is much larger than Walter Reed, and we're going to take that up.