Health crisis developing in New Orleans after Katrina, experts say

Published: 2006-08-15

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although it could eventually lead to a more equitable and effective health care system in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city's already fragile health care safety net and left many of the poor lacking vitally needed services. That was the assessment of a panel of health care providers and policymakers brought together in Washington Aug. 8 by the Kaiser Family Foundation to discuss "Health Care One Year After Hurricane Katrina." "People are not getting the routine things we all take for granted," said Dr. Karen DeSalvo, chief of general internal medicine at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. "That can only go on for so long before impacting public health." Major problem areas include mental health services and diagnostic services such as X-rays, she said. Dr. Fred Cerise, secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said there was "a significant loss of physicians" in New Orleans and the surrounding area, estimating that the current number of doctors is 35 percent to 50 percent of pre-Katrina levels. Psychiatrists, dentists and nurses are especially scarce, he said.

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