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Indian Health Service Loses Equipment At Alarming Rate
The Associated Press reports that "the Indian Health Service is continuing to lose equipment at an alarming rate despite efforts to better account for the agency"s property, according to congressional investigators. In a report issued Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office said the government agency lost about 1,400 items worth $3.5 million between October 2007 and January 2009 - including $37,000 in lab equipment at a Navajo health care facility and a $7,300 trailer in Nashville, Tenn. Those losses came after an estimated $15.8 million in equipment was unaccounted for between the 2004 and 2007 budget years. Those losses were reported by the GAO in June 2008, when investigators also charged that the Indian Health Service had falsified documents to cover up some of the missing property."
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Government Of Canada Supports Research To Help Address Medical Isotope Shortage
The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, announced recently that the Government of Canada is supporting research to find alternatives to nuclear-produced Technetium-99m, the principal medical isotope affected by the current shutdown at the Chalk River nuclear reactor. Health professionals use medical isotopes in combination with imaging technologies to diagnose and treat conditions such as cancer and heart disease.
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Nicaraguan Abortion Ban Increasing Maternal Deaths, Violating Human Rights, Amnesty International Says
Amnesty International on Monday launched a campaign to repeal a 2006 Nicaraguan law that bans abortion procedures in all circumstances, including rape, incest or danger to the woman"s life, the Los Angeles Times reports. The group said the law is a violation of human rights and has increased maternal deaths. According to a new Amnesty International report, the law puts Nicaragua among the 3% of nations that do not allow abortion under any circumstances. According to the Times, Nicaragua has one of Latin America"s highest rates of sexual violence, and much of the abuse is perpetrated by fathers, uncles or other relatives.According to the report, at least half of reported rapes are of minors, and most of those who become pregnant are younger than age 15. Citing statistics from the Nicaraguan Health Ministry, the report found that 33 women and girls died from pregnancy-related complications in the first 19 weeks of this year, and 20 died in the same period in 2008. The report adds that the real numbers likely are much higher.Kate Gilmore, executive deputy secretary-general of Amnesty International, said, "A festering, debilitating human rights situation (is) bringing grave fear, threat, harm and even death to Nicaragua"s girl children and women." Leonel Arguello, president of the Nicaraguan Society of General Medicine, said, "Not being allowed to do everything to save your patient goes against medical ethics." He added that many physicians decline to treat pregnant women in obstetric emergencies or delay treatment because they fear breaking the law. The law includes penalties of eight years in prison for women who have abortions or physicians who provide the procedure.According to the Times, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega expressed support for the law during the 2006 election season to gain support of the Roman Catholic Church and return to power. The ban ended a 100-year-old exception that had allowed abortion when the woman"s health was at risk. Gilmore said that Ortega refused to meet with Amnesty International officials to discuss the report. In addition, the health minister dismissed the group"s findings of a growing mortality rate among pregnant women as unfounded (Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 7/28).
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AMA President Calls For Congress' Insurance Plan For All Uninsured Americans

While CNN reports that the American Medical Association"s new president, J. James Rohack, is open to a government-funded health insurance option, others report that the system the AMA now endorses is not a public plan, but the heavily managed private plan that federal employees participate in. He "told CNN the AMA supports an "American model" that includes both "a private system and a public system, working together." In May, the AMA told a Senate committee it did not support a government-sponsored public health insurance option." "Rohack, who recently became AMA president, suggested Wednesday that the (Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan) available to Congress members and other federal employees could be expanded as a public option. That would avoid having to create a new program from scratch, he said. "If it"s good enough for Congress, why shouldn"t it be good enough for individuals who don"t have health insurance provided by their employers?" Rohack said" (7/1). But TPMDC reported Wednesday that Rohack"s comments aren"t an endorsement of a public plan at all: "He"s endorsing a system of managed competition that provides members of Congress and other federal employees a choice of heavily regulated private insurance plans. In the FEHBP, the government is not the insurance provider as it would be in the case of a public option--and that"s a substantial difference" (Beutler, 7/1). Daily KOS: "(I)f you listen closely to Rohack, he studiously avoids using the word "Public" in response to his questioners or in his own description of the AMA"s "new" (not) position" (Wbramh, 7/1). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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