As the positions and certifications of the Health Program stop, some 9/11 responders of critical diseases remain careful

A September 11 respondent with potentially deadly pancreatic cancer was told this week that chemotherapy could not begin. Two others with new cancer diagnoses were also denied treatment, according to Dr. David Prezant, medical director of the Fire Department of New York City and director of his health program of the World Trade Center.

“We postpone chemotherapy for a firefighter this week, hoping that this could be fixed,” said Prezant “is too young to Medicare, and this delay can cost her life.”

The three patients were part of the health center of health financed by the federal government, a system created to attend to those who risked their lives on September 11, 2001. But the program has stopped, Prezant said.

The program leader, Dr. John Howard, was eliminated in February, and then hired after a bipartisan reaction. But according to Prezant, it is not clear if your legal role as administrator was really restored.

“It seems that Dr. John Howard, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) and the administrator of the Health Program of the World Trade Center (WTCHP) were not properly reinstated as administrator of the World World Trade Health Program, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, he told the Republican members of New York of the Congress that they announced on April 5”, “, according to the extension of the extension of the extension of the extension of the extension of the extension of the extension of the extension James Zadroga, an advocated law, according to a website of an advantage statement.

Prezant said that although he has requested numerous times the clarifications of the World Trade Center health program, he has not provided information about why Howard has not been completely reinstalled or why certifications cannot continue.

He said it was not clear if Howard’s position was in Limbo due to Dux’s cuts or some other reason. The defenders also said that they believed that Howard’s state is separated from previous personnel cuts and budget deficits worsened by inflation.

But without formal certification, treatment for new conditions cannot proceed, he emphasized.

ABC contacted the Department of Health and Human Services to obtain an explanation, but did not receive an answer. In a statement sent earlier this week in response to personnel cuts, an agency spokesman said: “The program continues to accept and review new registration requests and certification requests.”

However, an internal HHS email sent earlier this month that was shared with ABC News said: “We have been ordered that we do not process any new certification.”

Until this week, clinics could start treating patients under “initial approvals,” said Prezant, while waiting for the formal certification of the federal program. But that emergency solution closed this week, he explained.

The process of achieving formal certification required to present documentation, such as biopsy results, pulmonary scans and other medical tests, and then acquire a signature of the program administrator, which should have been Howard.

This is “a clear sign that Dr. Howard has not been completely reinstated,” according to Prezant.

To receive attention through the program, a respondent or survivor must first register, and then have his illness formally certified by the Federal Program as related to the September 11 exhibition. Certification is a separate and critical step.

Clinics must present medical evidence, such as biopsy results or pulmonary scans, and only after the program approves, treatment can be presented or compensation claims are presented. Without someone in their place to authorize these certifications, patients with newly diagnosed conditions are trapped waiting.

In addition to its freezing certification diseases, Prezant said it seemed that the program can no longer register new members or approve treatments that save lives such as chemotherapy, lung transplants or stem cell therapy.

Sixteen of the doctors, nurses and support personnel of the program were fired in early April, exhausting the program by approximately 20%.

Howard’s unclear state follows the layoffs earlier this month that followed an earlier cuts in February, but were reversed after a bipartisan reaction. It has not yet been established if any of the newly finished employees were part of the original group.

In any case, the decision once again left the program critically, according to the leaders of the clinic and the defense groups.

The program now serves more than 150,000 people throughout the country, compared to approximately 76,000 in 2015, according to data for disease control and prevention centers. A bipartisan bill, HR 1410, was presented in February to close the financing gap as the registration arose, but remains stagnant in Congress.

“We do not decide who qualifies,” said Prezant, noting that the eligibility rules and certification decisions are established by the Federal Program under the Zadroga law. “That protects the fraud system, and works.”

He pointed out FDNY data that show that five years after a diagnosis of cancer, 86% of program patients are still alive, compared to only 66% among those diagnosed in the state of New York that are not registered in the program.

Now, according to Prezant and others, patients in the 50 states that depend on the care of the program are being rejected without clear responses on when or if, the system will be restored.

“No one is asking for anything more than was promised by law,” said Prezant, referring to Zagroda’s commitment to provide medical care and life monitoring for the responders and survivors of September 11 whose diseases are linked to his exposition. “We just want the federal government to honor that promise before more lives are lost.”