So the virus hit the Indian Health Service and the people it is supposed to serve like a freight train. “It started as a complete nightmare here,” said Frank Armao, the chief medical officer at the Winslow Indian Health Care Center in Arizona. Based in Rockville, Maryland, the Indian Health Service, often referred to as IHS, was created to carry out the government’s treaty obligation to provide health care services to eligible American Indians and Alaskan Natives. “It’s especially difficult if you don’t have electricity or even water.”The Navajo Nation is one of IHS’s 12 service regions. “I don’t think Indian Health Service was generally positioned to respond to a pandemic nationally,” she said.

Source: bd News24 September 30, 2020 06:00 UTC