Rachana Pradhan
Government paperwork seen by KFF Health News present a drop in sufferers receiving care this yr on the National Institutes of Health’s famend analysis hospital, a 200-bed facility at NIH headquarters in Maryland.
We previously reported a lower within the variety of sufferers being handled on the NIH Clinical Center from February by way of April. Since then, we’ve obtained newer knowledge exhibiting the drop has continued.
As of mid-August, the typical each day variety of sufferers handled on the hospital was round 60. There has been a gentle drop since February, coinciding with the Trump administration’s mass firings of presidency workers, its broad immigration crackdown, and the gutting of scientific analysis.
By distinction, final October, about 80 sufferers a day, on common, have been on the hospital, the paperwork present.
Current and former authorities staff cite a number of causes for the decline. An exodus of clinicians, scientists, and different staffers has restricted the quantity of people that will be handled. Researchers are leaving, which suggests they’re not recruiting sufferers to come back to the NIH for trials.
And, the employees say, it’s doubtless that fewer sufferers who lack authorized standing within the U.S. are looking for care on the NIH hospital. That’s due to the Trump administration’s immigration insurance policies and the federal authorities’s tighter guidelines for guests from overseas.
In a press release, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon mentioned the decline within the variety of sufferers “has been ongoing for years” and the scientific heart “remains fully operational and continues to provide world-class clinical research and patient care.”
Are you a most cancers affected person whose care on the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland, or one other hospital, has been affected by the Trump administration’s cuts? Are you a member of the family or caregiver of a most cancers affected person who has obtained care on the NIH? We’d like to listen to about your expertise. Tell us here.
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