WASHINGTON — The military’s medical community got a black eye that “we didn’t completely deserve” about conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the top Pentagon health official said Thursday at a ribbon cutting for a new amputee center.
The defense of conditions at Walter Reed by Dr. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health, was a departure from the message by many military leaders who have taken responsibility for the problems.
In February, the hospital was besieged by news reports of poor outpatient care at Walter Reed, which is the flagship hospital of the Army’s system of medical facilities.
The new, state-of-the art, $10 million rehabilitation center for amputees at Walter Reed is a source of pride for the hospital. Injured soldiers who have lost a limb will be able to relearn tasks at the 31,000 square-foot facility such as shooting a weapon or driving a car.
Parachutists from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division parachuted to the lawn for the ceremony, which was attended by about 2,000 people — including many amputees in wheelchairs.
The comment by Casscells came after he thanked Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the commander of Walter Reed, for his tremendous effort to improve the situation “to make it first class in every way.”
Casscells then thanked doctors and other medical personnel “who didn’t quit when many of us in the military health system got a black eye that we didn’t completely deserve.”
Rep. John Murtha, a critic of the Bush administration’s handling of the war, said after the ceremony that he thinks problems at the hospital have been resolved.
“They were overwhelmed. They couldn’t handle it, is what it amounted to,” said Murtha, D-Pa., who is chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee.
Construction at the amputee center, which is called the Military Advanced Training Center, began in November. The money for it was approved in 2004 before a commission decided to relocate services at the hospital and close it in 2011. Equipment inside the new center can be moved to another location.
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