US to resume mercy flights for critically injured Haitians

The White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said last night: "The flights are on track to resume in the next 12 hours. We are working with the Haitian Government and the international community to meet this urgent need and save lives."

The US military said that it had stopped medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims until a row over who will pay for their care could be settled.

"Given concerns about the strain on domestic health capacity, we worked to increase cooperation with our international partners, NGOs and states to expand access to additional facilities" to care for gravely injured Haitians, Mr Vietor said yesterday.

Once US officials confirmed that there were more medical centres available, both in the US and abroad, to treat the Haitians, "we determined that we can resume these critical flights," he added.

Flights carrying people with spinal injuries, burns and other wounds ended last Wednesday after the Florida Governor Charlie Crist asked the federal Government to shoulder some of the cost of the care.