WASHINGTON — Funding for the investigation into the Hepatitis C outbreak in Las Vegas was stripped from the final war supplemental bill passed by the Senate last night, though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has tucked the request in a new bill making its way through Congress.
Almost half the Republican senators, including Sen. John Ensign, as well as fiscally conservative Democrats in the House, had balked at extras in the bill last month.
Reid’s request had included $21 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the problem nationally and $5 million for the Southern Nevada Health Center to cover unexpected costs.
As many as 50,000 patients of an outpatient clinic in Las Vegas may have been exposed to hepatitis C or HIV after nurses reused syringes, an improper health care practice. Seven patients have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, as has one patient from a related clinic.
The CDC director has said what happened in Nevada may be the “tip of the iceberg” of similar problems nationwide. The CDC wants to conduct a public education campaign, staff training on proper techniques at outpatient and research the development of safer medical devices.
Locally, the health district would have used the funds to test patients and cover costs associated with the scare.
But to strike an agreement on the war funding bill, Congress eliminated much of the domestic spending from the package, which still preserved extended unemployment benefits and expanded education benefits for post-Sept. 11 vets under a new GI Bill.
In voting against the package last month, Ensign questioned whether the Southern Nevada Health Department needed the money. He voted for the bill last night.
Reid has since tucked a smaller funding request in another bill going through Congress. On Thursday, a committee approved $5 million for the CDC and $550,000 for the Nevada health district in the Labor, Health and Human Services bill.
“Reid definitely thinks the money is needed,” his spokesman said. “He’s going to work as hard as he can to get the funding this year.”
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