U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran says a veterans medical center in Wichita left its laboratories unstaffed for entire shifts and sometimes resorted to “begging, borrowing and manipulation” just to obtain vital surgical equipment.

Moran made the allegations in a letter sent last week to Sloan Gibson, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affair. The Kansas Republican senator says the problems at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center put veterans’ lives at risk and forced employees to work under conditions of fear and retribution.

Moran cited whistleblower complaints and 177 pages of internal documents, including meeting minutes, budgets and equipment request lists.

The VA medical center Wichita confirmed it had received the letter a day earlier but was still reviewing it Wednesday.