Americas

Home page

Americas

Florida refuses to receive Haitian patients

30 January 2010 23:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade - APA. The U.S. military has halted flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States, apparently in a dispute over medical care costs, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€.

The evacuations were temporarily suspended Wednesday, said Capt. Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command. The flights were halted a day after Florida Gov. Charlie Crist asked the federal government to help pay for care.

The story was first reported by the New York Times.

Florida officials said Saturday that they were not aware of any hospital in Florida refusing to take in the patients. However, in a letter Tuesday to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the governor said "Florida’s health care system is quickly reaching saturation, especially in the area of high level trauma care."

In a statement Saturday, Crist said Florida has not stopped helping earthquake victims, noting at least 60 Haitian orphans arrived Friday night at Miami International Airport.

Note that, more than 400 U.S. citizens, Haitian nationals and other foreign nationals have been treated at South Florida hospitals since the Jan. 12 earthquake, including 136 who remain hospitalized, said Jeanne Eckes-Roper, the health and medical chairwoman of a state domestic security task force for the South Florida region.