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System Needed for Medical Volunteers After Disaster

Posted on: Thursday, 22 September 2005, 14:45 CDT

WASHINGTON -- At the first U.S. Congressional hearing on the public health consequences of the massive hurricane that hit the Gulf coast three weeks ago, a top federal official acknowledged that the federal government could do a better job mobilizing medical volunteers in times of national emergency.

Several members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittees on Health and Oversight and Investigations said doctors from their states had tried to volunteer for an obviously overwhelmed medical response to the storm, particularly in New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast, but were turned away or otherwise deterred from coming.

Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican and a physician, said he was shocked at the inability to mobilize the medical evacuation from flooded hospitals and other medical facilities in New Orleans.

"We know how to do this," he said, referring to the precision with which U.S. military medical personnel can spring into action around the world. "What happened in New Orleans when we couldn't get people off the roof deck of a parking structure?" Burgess said.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was good reason that so many willing medical volunteers were turned away. She told the subcommittees that the federal government tries to keep medical teams and supplies together as units. "We don't want volunteers to flood in a discordant way," she said.

But at the same time, she added, the federal government can and does facilitate volunteer medical personnel to help in emergencies by "deeming" them temporary federal employees. That gets around normal state licensing requirements, she said.

And Gerberding acknowledged that federal officials were caught unaware of the large numbers of doctors and others who wanted to provide help in the hurricane zone. "I think we can anticipate this sort of volunteerism and prepare better for it in the future," she said.

In fact, Dr. Ardis Hoven testified on behalf of the American Medical Association, such volunteerism has been required by the AMA's code of ethics for more than a century. In 2004, Hoven pointed out, "A new ethical principle was adopted stating that 'because of their commitment to care for the sick and injured, individual physicians have an obligation to provide urgent medical care during disasters'."

Hoven also said in her written testimony that the AMA's Center for Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response is working with the federal government to develop advance registration systems for volunteer medical professionals.

Source: REUTERS/By Julie Rovner

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