WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- An emergency physicians group Wednesday faulted the federal government's pandemic flu plan for not addressing the lack of surge capacity in ER departments.
The American College of Emergency Physicians urged the Bush administration to support the Senate appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006 that would approve millions of dollars for improving hospital preparedness.
"As the U.S. Government Accountability Office ... has twice confirmed in reports it issued in 2003 and 2004, the nation's hospitals lack adequate surge capacity, isolation facilities and staff to treat a large increase in the number of patients that may result from a flu pandemic," Dr. Rick Blum, the ACEP's president, said in a statement.
Blum noted that over the past decade, U.S. hospitals have cut 103,000 staffed beds and 7,800 intensive-care-unit beds.
"The administration must support the provision of funding to address the deficiencies in our hospital emergency departments, or hundreds, if not thousands, of lives will be needlessly lost when a pandemic flu ultimately impacts our country," he said.
