Although aid still arrives in Haiti, the money starts to influence the pace of rescue of the people under the rubbles.
In addition to this claim goes that the United States has suspended its medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims until a dispute over who will pay for their care is settled, military officials said.
-The military flights, usually C-130s, carrying Haitians with spinal cord injuries, burns and other serious wounds, ended after Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida formally asked the federal government to shoulder some of the costs of the care. Other states have taken patients, too, and those flights have been suspended as well – the officials said.
But dispute over who will pay, and suspension, could be catastrophic for the patients.
– People are dying in Haiti because they cant get out – said Dr Barth A. Green, the co-founder of Project Medishare for Haiti.
As people are dying, officials argue who is to blame for the flights suspension.
Governor’s spokesman Sterling Ivey said that Florida stands ready to assist Haitians.
– But we need a plan of action for the care we are providing – said Ivey.
The Department of Health and human Services accused military for suspending flights.
A spokeswoman for the Department said the decision to suspend flights was made by the military, not the federal health department. But military spokesman said that the military had ended the flights because hospitals were becoming unwilling to take patients.
– The places they were being taken, without being specific, were not willing to continue to receive those patients without a different arrangement being worked out by the government to pay for the care – said Maj. James Lowe, the deputy chief of public affairs for the United States Transportation Command.
Meanwhile, Florida officials said the state hospitals had not refused to take more patients. Jeanne Eckes-Roper, the health and medical chairwoman of the domestic security task force for the South Florida region, said she had requested only that new patients be taken to other areas of the state, like Tampa.
Anyways, people are dying under the rubbles while officials blame each other for suspending flights that can save somebody’s life.
