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Pentagon plans draft of medics
(Mark Libbon, Newhouse News Service, July 21, 2003)
The Pentagon is firming up a plan to draft thousands of doctors, nurses and other health-care specialists in the event of a worst-case crisis. . . . The Selective Service System is dusting off its plan for a "health care personnel delivery system," which has been on the shelf since Congress authorized it in 1987 to cope with military casualties from a large-scale biological or chemical attack. . . . At the Pentagon's direction, the agency also is examining whether that plan for a "special skills" draft could be adapted to address critical shortages that might arise for military linguists, computer experts or engineers. . . . "We're going to elevate that kind of draft to be a priority," Lewis Brodsky, acting director of Selective Service, says. . . . The president would issue a proclamation ordering an estimated 3.5 million health-care workers to register for a draft within 13 days. Congress would quickly enact legislation authorizing the draft for health-care workers 20 to 44. For the first time, a draft would include women. . . . The Pentagon would tell Selective Service how many people it needed in each of 62 specialties. A separate draft lottery would be held for each of those needs. . . . For example, if 300 orthopedic surgeons were required, Selective Service would choose birthdays in a random lottery and order those dates from 1 to 365. Notices would go out to the surgeons, starting with the first birthday drawn, until 300 had been called. . . . The plan isn't very well-known within the medical community. . . . Brodsky said the plan has moved to the front burner because of recent signals from the Pentagon and conversations with military leaders. . . . Selective Service maintains 2,000 active draft boards around the country.

posted by LoZo 6:16 PM