US to resume medevacs as kids flown out on private jet

(31 Jan 2010) SHOTLIST 1. Tilt down to medical staff attending to Betina Joseph, a five-year-old girl with tetanus about to be airlifted to Philadelphia 2. Close-up of Betina''s face 3. Close of face of young girl''s mother 4. Mid doctors picking girl on stretcher 5. Close of Betina moaning as she is transported 6. Wide of medics placing girl on stretcher into the back of pickup truck 7. Close of Betina''s face being examined 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr Phuoc Le, Physician in charge of evacuated children: "I had several patients to transfer the day before they stopped the military flights, and it was frustrating to no end. And so I''m very, very excited that we are through other channels through the Partners in Health connections, we are able to get these patients out." (Reporter: Are you disappointed that those military flights were cancelled?) "Certainly. Those are patients who needed to go, and it delayed their departure for several days at least." 9. Doctor and nurse riding in the back of pickup truck with two patients on the way to the airport 10. Tilt up from patients in back of truck to medic fanning the two children with paper as they are transported 11. Various of 14-month-old baby boy with pneumonia 12. Close-up of girl with tetanus wrapped in blanket 13. Wide truck driving toward airport 14. Patients and mothers inside small plane used for the medical evacuation 15. Mid of mother holding infant with third-degree burns on one leg 16. Mid of mother holding Betina 17. Close-up of infant with pneumonia 18. Various of medical evacuation plane on tarmac STORYLINE The Obama administration on Sunday said the military was to resume bringing Haitian earthquake victims to the United States for medical treatment, ending a suspension that lasted several days. A White House spokesman said the medical airlift was on track to resume by early Monday after the administration received assurances that additional medical capacity existed in the US and among its international partners for the patients. The military had brought hundreds of critically injured Haitians to the United States aboard its planes before halting the flights on Wednesday. Since then, at least a handful of patients were flown on civilian aircraft and other flights continued to carry US citizens and other mostly non-injured passengers. Individual hospitals were still able to arrange private medical flights - such as one that brought three critically ill children to a hospital in Philadelphia on Sunday. The Children''s Hospital of Philadelphia said the children were a five-year-old girl with tetanus, a 14-month-old boy with pneumonia and a baby suffering from thirrd degree burn from sun exposure after the quake. Doctors said the makeshift facilities in Haiti weren''t equipped to treat such critical conditions and warned that patients in similar condition could die if they weren''t treated in US hospitals. The three children were sent to Philadelphia on a flight arranged by the Boston-based aid group Partners in Health. Exactly what led to the suspension of medical evacuation flights was unclear, though military officials had said some states refused to take patients. Officials in Florida, one of the main destinations for military flights leaving Haiti, said no patients were ever turned away. However, the suspension took effect after Florida''s governor sent a letter to the Health and Human Services Secretary on Tuesday, saying the state''s hospitals were reaching a saturation point. of those people required medical care at hospitals, state officials said. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...