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ARMY'S ACTING SURGEON GENERAL SAYS DoD DOESN'T
HAVE THE MONEY TO CARE FOR RETURNING GIs --
Concerned about long-term morale because the
military
lacks money to hire enough nurses and mental
health
specialists to treat thousands of troops coming
home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Major General Gale Pollock
testified before the Armed Services Committee yesterday about
staff shortages. (photo: Chris Greenberg / ASSOCIATED PRESS) |
Story here...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/
washington/articles/2007/03/28/veterans
_care_underfunded_general_says/
Story below:
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Veterans' care underfunded, general says
By Hope Yen, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Army's new acting surgeon general said yesterday that
she is concerned about long-term morale because the military lacks money
to hire enough nurses and mental health specialists to treat thousands
of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"When the original plans were made, we did not take into consideration
we could be in a long war," said Major General Gale Pollock. She became
surgeon general this month after Kevin Kiley was forced to resign in a
scandal over poor treatment of war-wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center.
"We have not been able to do the hiring," Pollock told a House Armed
Services subcommittee.
She testified at the first of two congressional hearings yesterday on
veterans' care during which lawmakers expressed impatience with the Bush
administration's efforts. They said years of communication gaps between
the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have yet to be fixed.
Testimony from officials from the two departments highlighted the
difficulties that lie ahead for the Bush administration in fixing
problems following reports of shoddy outpatient treatment and
bureaucratic delays at Walter Reed Medical Center.
Addressing a Senate panel, Michael Kussman, executive-in-charge of the
Veterans Health Administration, and Ellen Embrey, deputy assistant
secretary of defense for health affairs, defended their efforts to
improve coordination that would speed healthcare to injured troops and
veterans.
Embrey said the departments have taken steps to strengthen joint
committees and place each other's personnel in Pentagon and VA-run
facilities.
Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, cited a recent
Government Accountability Office report that the two departments still
fail to share health records electronically.
"We're now in the fifth year of this armed conflict," said Burr, of the
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "At what point do we actually look at
what's going on and implement changes?"
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Larry Scott --
