US halts Haiti victim evacuations in 'medical bill row'
Page last updated at 21:19 GMT, Saturday, 30 January 2010
Hundreds of quake victims have been flown to the US for treatment
The US military has stopped evacuating Haitian earthquake victims to the US in a reported dispute over medical costs. Flights stopped on Wednesday because some hospitals were reluctant to take patients from Haiti, a US military official told the New York Times. A doctor in the quake zone warned 100 of his patients would die in the next 48 hours unless they were airlifted.
Meanwhile, only women will be allowed to collect food from new UN distribution sites in Haiti's capital. Hundreds of patients with spinal injuries, burns and other wounds have been evacuated to the US since the 12 January quake that killed up to 200,000 people.
'Reaching saturation'
We have 100 patients who will die in the next day or two if we don't Medevac them
Dr Barth Green
Doctor in Haiti
Confirming the flights had stopped, US Transportation Command spokesman Capt Kevin Aandahl said on Saturday: "Apparently, some states were unwilling to accept the entry of Haitian patients for follow-on critical care. "We manage air evacuation missions, but without a destination to fly to we can't move anybody. If we don't have permission to bring them, or they won't take them in, we can't fly the mission. It's pretty simple."
He declined to say which states did not want to accept patients. A spokesman for Florida Governor Charlie Crist said he was not aware of any hospital in his state refusing patients. More than 500 quake victims have been treated so far in Florida hospitals, according to the New York Times. In a letter on Tuesday to US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Mr Crist asked the federal government to activate the National Disaster Medical System, which usually pays for victims' care in domestic disasters.
He warned: "Florida's healthcare system is quickly reaching saturation, especially in the area of high-level trauma care."
Women-only
The Republican governor's letter noted the system was already under strain because of the winter influx of elderly people. Dr Barth Green, who is involved in the relief effort in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, warned that his patients needed to get to better hospitals. "We have 100 critically ill patients who will die in the next day or two if we don't med-evac them," Dr Green, chairman of the University of Miami's Global Institute for Community Health and Development, told AP news agency.
Among the patients was a five-year-old girl suffering from tetanus in a small leg wound. She would die within a day unless evacuated, Dr David Pitcher, a medic at the institute's temporary field hospital at Haiti's international airport, told AP. Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme said it had set up 16 distribution points in Port-au-Prince which would open on Sunday and reach many more hungry Haitians.
But only women will be allowed in to collect rations, because, the WFP says, this has proved that's the best way to get food to the people who need it. Men will be encouraged wait outside the distribution centres to accompany women after they have been given rations, because lone women would be more vulnerable to attack. The World Food Programme is also starting to hand out food coupons entitling each family to collect 25kg (55lb) of rice rations, designed to last two weeks.
Page last updated at 21:19 GMT, Saturday, 30 January 2010
Hundreds of quake victims have been flown to the US for treatment
The US military has stopped evacuating Haitian earthquake victims to the US in a reported dispute over medical costs. Flights stopped on Wednesday because some hospitals were reluctant to take patients from Haiti, a US military official told the New York Times. A doctor in the quake zone warned 100 of his patients would die in the next 48 hours unless they were airlifted.
Meanwhile, only women will be allowed to collect food from new UN distribution sites in Haiti's capital. Hundreds of patients with spinal injuries, burns and other wounds have been evacuated to the US since the 12 January quake that killed up to 200,000 people.
'Reaching saturation'
We have 100 patients who will die in the next day or two if we don't Medevac them
Dr Barth Green
Doctor in Haiti
Confirming the flights had stopped, US Transportation Command spokesman Capt Kevin Aandahl said on Saturday: "Apparently, some states were unwilling to accept the entry of Haitian patients for follow-on critical care. "We manage air evacuation missions, but without a destination to fly to we can't move anybody. If we don't have permission to bring them, or they won't take them in, we can't fly the mission. It's pretty simple."
He declined to say which states did not want to accept patients. A spokesman for Florida Governor Charlie Crist said he was not aware of any hospital in his state refusing patients. More than 500 quake victims have been treated so far in Florida hospitals, according to the New York Times. In a letter on Tuesday to US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Mr Crist asked the federal government to activate the National Disaster Medical System, which usually pays for victims' care in domestic disasters.
He warned: "Florida's healthcare system is quickly reaching saturation, especially in the area of high-level trauma care."
Women-only
The Republican governor's letter noted the system was already under strain because of the winter influx of elderly people. Dr Barth Green, who is involved in the relief effort in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, warned that his patients needed to get to better hospitals. "We have 100 critically ill patients who will die in the next day or two if we don't med-evac them," Dr Green, chairman of the University of Miami's Global Institute for Community Health and Development, told AP news agency.
Among the patients was a five-year-old girl suffering from tetanus in a small leg wound. She would die within a day unless evacuated, Dr David Pitcher, a medic at the institute's temporary field hospital at Haiti's international airport, told AP. Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme said it had set up 16 distribution points in Port-au-Prince which would open on Sunday and reach many more hungry Haitians.
But only women will be allowed in to collect rations, because, the WFP says, this has proved that's the best way to get food to the people who need it. Men will be encouraged wait outside the distribution centres to accompany women after they have been given rations, because lone women would be more vulnerable to attack. The World Food Programme is also starting to hand out food coupons entitling each family to collect 25kg (55lb) of rice rations, designed to last two weeks.
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