US suspends medical evacuations from Haiti

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US suspends medical evacuations from Haiti

30 Jan 2010 05:35:38 GMT
<!-- 30 Jan 2010 05:35:38 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove -->Source: Reuters
By Peter Cooney

MIAMI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it has stopped flying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States for medical attention following concerns by some state governments about who will pay for the treatment.

"At this moment in time, yes, the flights have stopped," said Navy Captain Kevin Aandahl, a spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Command, which manages the military's medical emergency airlifts.

"We have to have a destination to bring them to," Aandahl said, citing media reports Florida had told the U.S. government that the state needed help paying for the care.

"If Florida isn't taking them ... and I can't confirm this, but I think Georgia has made a similar statement, so if we can't bring them anywhere for treatment, then they're staying in Haiti."

He said the flights had stopped on Wednesday.

"The fact that medical flights aren't taking place does not mean that Haitians who need care aren't getting it," Aandahl added. "We have the medical facilities again on the island as well as offshore."

Read more at:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30153375.htm

 

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Re: US suspends medical evacuations from Haiti

Medical assistance flights from Haiti resuming

Posted: Sunday, January 31, 2010 4:15 pm

Officials are restarting the airlift out of Haiti carrying injured earthquake victims, the White House said Sunday.

In a statement, the White House said that having received assurances that additional medical capacity exists in the U.S. and among its international partners, "we determined that we can resume these critical flights."

The U.S. military on Wednesday stopped carrying injured Haitians to the United States on its planes.
Since then, at least a handful of earthquake victims have made it to the

U.S. on flights arranged by individual hospitals, and other flights continued carrying U.S. citizens and other mostly noninjured patients.

Late Sunday afternoon, the White House said that "the flights are on track to resume in the next 12 hours.

Read more at:
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/article_803de0bb-3392-5933-812b-475ea243891b.html

 

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Re: US suspends medical evacuations from Haiti

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Florida governor: Flights continue out of Haiti </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--startclickprintexclude--><TABLE height=25 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><!--endclickprintexclude-->Posted 1/31/2010 2:38 PM ET </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

MIAMI (AP) ? Hundreds of people have been flown from Haiti to Florida, even after the U.S. military halted evacuation flights for critically injured patients, the state's governor said Sunday.

Gov. Charlie Crist told ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Sunday he was puzzled by the suspension, which has been in effect since Wednesday. Civilian flights and other military flights have continued.
Military planes carrying 700 U.S. citizens, legal residents and other foreign nationals landed in central Florida over the past 24 hours, and three of those people required medical care at hospitals, state officials said.

"We're welcoming Haitians with open arms and probably done more than any other state and are happy to continue to do so," Crist said.
Some passengers from those flights needed routine treatment at hospitals, but Florida has not received any critical patients needing urgent care since the halt, said Sterling Ivey, the governor's spokesman.

Exactly what led to the suspension of medical evacuation flights remains unclear. Military officials said some states refused to take patients. Florida officials say none were ever turned away, though Crist had sent a letter
Tuesday to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saying the state's hospitals were reaching a saturation point.

The letter also asked for federal help paying for patient expenses - a request Crist on Sunday said could have been misinterpreted. He also said federal officials have indicated he would receive help covering the costs, totaling more than $7 million.
The White House has said hospitals were running out of space and officials were working to increase capacity in Haiti and the U.S., as well as aboard the USNS Comfort hospital ship.

Read more at:
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=floridatoday&sParam=37401630.story

 

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Re: US suspends medical evacuations from Haiti

Paperwork Hinders Airlifts of Ill Haitian Children </NYT_HEADLINE>Lynsey Addario for

The New York Times

By IAN URBINA
</NYT_BYLINE>Published: February 8, 2010
<!--NYT_INLINE_IMAGE_POSITION1 --><NYT_TEXT>

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ? Private medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian children to the United States for treatment have largely stopped because aid workers, doctors and government officials are worried about being accused of kidnapping if they transport the children without first getting paperwork that is slow to arrive or is unavailable.

Before 10 Americans were arrested trying to take children out of Haiti late last month, the largest pediatric field hospital in Haiti was airlifting 15 injured children aboard private flights to the United States each day.

But since the arrests, it has been able to evacuate only three children on private flights to American hospitals, according to Elizabeth Greig, the field hospital?s chief administrative officer, who has been in charge of trying to get the necessary Haitian and American approval.

At least 10 other children have died or become worse while waiting to be airlifted out of the country, she said. Dozens of children are in critical need of care, and there has been no shortage of American hospitals or pilots willing to take them.

But before being permitted to evacuate the children, some doctors said they were now being asked by American and Haitian officials for documents proving that the children were orphans or that the adult traveling with them was a parent ? a challenging task considering that many residents? birth certificates and other records remained buried under the rubble.

?They?re all at risk of dying, and none of these children should still be here in Haiti,? said Dr. Shayan Vyas, an American pediatrician changing an IV at the pediatric field hospital, which is based here at the Port-au-Prince airport and handles most of the private pediatric airlifts out of Haiti. The hospital is run by Medishare, a Miami-based charity, and a coalition of hospitals tied to the University of Miami.

More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/world/americas/09airlift.html?partner=rss&emc=rss