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The U.S. military had
suspended last Wednesday, the medical evacuation of wounded from Haiti
on the grounds that they were considered undesirable in U.S. hospitals.
Flight evacuation of
wounded Haitians were to resume Monday announced Sunday evening, the
White House. Barack Obama put an end
to an embarrassing episode in which politics and the aberrations of U.S.
health care system were invited in relief operations. The U.S. military had
been suspended last Wednesday, the medical evacuation of wounded from
Haiti on the grounds that they were considered undesirable in U.S.
hospitals.
The case began in Florida
where the Republican governor of this state, Charlie Crist, now
campaigning, sought guarantees repayment of hospital costs to the
federal government.
The governor denies
having conditioned the reception of wounded to a formal assurance from
Washington, but a spokesman for the army told the New York Times that
the hospital in Miami since refused to treat the wounded with no
guarantee of repayment.
Medical care in the
United States are notoriously expensive. Millions of Americans
die each year from diseases untreated due to lack of medical coverage. In the case of
earthquake victims in Haiti, the cost of their hospital stay - usually
long and serious injury - is estimated at millions of dollars.
Complicated procedures
Normally, the National
Disaster Medical System under the Ministry of Health, which supports
victims of natural disaster. But whether in fact the
majority of Haitian citizens complicates the procedure.
Saturday, only 34 files
were backed up by federal authorities on the 500 injured people in
Florida since the earthquake of January 12. Meanwhile, it is the
States, primarily Florida, who pay the bill.
Now the difficult
economic situation of the "Sunshine State" and the race rather uncertain
Governor Crist for his re-election against the Democratic candidate
complicate the management of aid sought by federal authorities. The Governor has informed
Washington that the local medical infrastructure were "saturated"
