U.S. Trying to Find More Doctors to Send to Disaster Areas

Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico’s hospitals in bad shape

A U.S. government program that sends doctors and nurses to disaster zones says it needs more health-care workers, as relief efforts during this hurricane season are near the end of a second month with no end in sight in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The National Disaster Medical System, which recently wrapped up big deployments to hurricane-ravaged areas in Texas and Florida, says it will start recruiting more medical professionals in the next few weeks.

“We’re far from the recovery stage of this event,” Robert Kadlec, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary, said Thursday of Hurricane Maria’s devastation. The storm largely destroyed Puerto Rico’s power grid, leaving half the local hospitals without power, and downed its communications network. The federal health agency oversees the program that temporarily hires health-care workers for what are typically two-week rotations.

The U.S. teams, which set up temporary hospitals and clinics, are helping relieve the strain on Puerto Rican hospitals. Nearly half of the local hospitals are depending on sometimes unreliable generators for power. Generator failures have forced recent evacuations at two hospitals. And others suffered storm damage that crippled operations, said Jaime Pla Cortes, executive president of the Puerto Rico Hospital Association, in an interview...