US airlift halt sparks fears

HAITI: Haiti's injured earthquake victims have suffered a potentially deadly setback after the US military said it had suspended evacuation flights because of a dispute over medical care costs.

Flights that have carried more than 500 people with spinal injuries, burns and other wounds ended after the governor of Florida asked the government to share the financial burden on his state's hospitals.

"Apparently, some states were unwilling to accept the entry of Haitian patients for follow-on critical care," US Transportation Command spokesman Captain Kevin Aandahl told AFP.

"Without a destination to fly to, we can't move anybody."

Aid groups warned the row over money could cost lives.

"People are dying in Haiti because they can't get out," Barth Green of Project Medishare for Haiti, a nonprofit group which has been evacuating about two dozen patients a day, told The New York Times.

The US State and Defense Departments were working with Florida governor Charlie Crist and state authorities to try to fix the problem, said US Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten.

The United States has spearheaded relief efforts since the 7.0-magnitude quake on February 12, which killed around 170,000 people, injured around 200,000 and left more than one million homeless. The aid effort as a whole has, however, drawn criticism for a lack of coordination.

Several leftist Latin American nations have accused US forces of occupying Haiti militarily instead of focusing on aid needs.

Quake-hit Haitians, many of whom are living in squalid makeshift tent camps, have also complained that the huge influx of relief has been slow to reach them on the ground.

Health Minister Alex Larsen said the government was "moving as fast as possible" to shelter quake victims ahead of heavy rains due as soon as next month that could trigger a public health disaster.

"There's discussion going on right now on how to deal with this issue quick enough," Larsen told AFP.

Port-Au-Prince, Sunday, AFP