European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 24, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 2 the stars and stripes sunday july 24,1988 Gao faults Dod medical procedures by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington too Many de sense department doctors still Lack proper credentials and do not have their qualifications reviewed closely enough Atman of the military s 168 hospitals according to a general accounting office study. In addition the report said 134 of the246 foreign nationals working As doctors in overseas facilities mostly in West Germany had not passed or had not taken the test administered by the educational commission for foreign medi Cal graduates putting them among those doctors who do not meet the new licensing requirement. The defense department is skirting the Issue by granting waivers to Man of these foreign physicians the report said. As of last december the air Force had granted 13 waivers and the army 49. The Pentagon has toughened its verification procedures since 1984 audit found severe deficiencies in the sys tem but the individual services Are not doing enough to carry through on the reforms said the Gao report is sued last week. New defense department require ments ensure that credentials of doctors coming on Active duty Are validated but delays persist in authenticating credentials of physicians already in the service the report said. A Gao review of 426 randomly selected physician files at nine hospitals showed that 65 percent of the medical school diplomas in the air Force 64 per cent in the army and 37 percent in the Navy had not been authenticated. Additionally More than a year after the Pentagon implemented a new requirement in july 198s that its physicians hold valid and current state medi Cal licenses nearly 1,800 doctors did not have them. As Many As 450 doctors still do not even though the 1985 policy change set july 1988 As a deadline. That does t necessarily translate into poor medical care but on theother hand Complete implementation of the system required by Dod offers much More Assurance that Only Quali fied physicians Are practising the re port said. The Gao recommended that the de sense department push the military serv ices harder. Not until the qualifications of Al physicians have been verified can Dod be assured that Only qualified physicians Are practising Medicine the report said. In commenting on the report or. Wil Liam Mayer assistant Secretary of de sense for health affairs noted that the Agency s on site audit work was done be tween november 1985 and october 1986 and said the services have made significant strides toward validating the qualifications of All their physicians since then. Because of the age of the data Mostof the findings and recommendations Are moot he said. But he admitted that several Hundred doctors May still be unlicensed which could result in sporadic problems with Access to medical care for some beneficiaries. The program developed for physician performance assessment and documentation is Complex and will take several years to be completely effective Mayer said. The defense department is How Ever committed to its Quality Assurance news updates stadium riot lawsuits Brussels Belgium a four More people including the mayor of Brussels Are being sued by victims of the 1985 heysel stadium riot which left 39 dead the Brussels prosecutor s office reported Friday. Twenty six britons have already been charged with first degree responsibility in the deadly riot Aswell As three belgian officials accused of deadly neglect. Apart from Brussels mayor Herve Brouhon the other persons being sued now Are Deputy mayor Viviane Baro european soccer Union president Jacques Georges and Secretary general Hans Bangerter. The prosecutor s office added that the City of Brussels and the soccer Union were also being sue for involuntary homicide and unintentional blows and injuries. Wisconsin drought Milwaukee a the Agri culture department Friday declared All 72 Wisconsin counties a disaster area because of the drought. The move makes some Farmer eligible for Farmers Home administration Loans to help offset losses. The announcement by Gunderson r-wis., came a Day after agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng visited a drought stricken Dairy farm. Judge gives grand jury More time to investigate Iran Contra operation Washington a a Federal judge saturday gave the grand jury investigating the Iran Contra affair an additional six months to Complete its work after Federal prosecutors apparently indicated they want to continue investigating Contra resupply operations in Central America. . District chief judge Aubrey or. Ordered the jury which would have been dissolved on july 28, to continue its work through Jan. 27,1989. That would extend its original 18-month authority into the term of the next presi Dent. Robinson s order referred to a sealed request from Independent counsel Law rence e. Walsh and authorized the jury to Deal with investigations identified by the government in its Walsh has been looking into an illegal operation to organize a private arms sup ply network for the contras fighting the sandinista government of Nicaragua at a time when . Aid was banned by con Gress. The grand jury a month ago indicted the Cia s former station chief in Costa Rica Joseph f. Fernandez on five counts of organizing the network. The charges also included unidentified co conspirators. Walsh has been continuing his investigation while preparing for the trials of former White House aide Oliver North former National Security adviser John m. Poindexter and arms dealers Alber Hakim and Richard v. Secord for their roles in the Sale of arms to Iran and the alleged diversion of funds to the Nicara Guan rebels. Walsh s spokesman Jim Wieghart said he could not comment on the investigation. Specifics of the request for Extension could not be made Public he said. On tuesday North Poindexter and Hakim petitioned the . Court of appeals to have their indictments dismissed because they believe testimony they gave to Congress under immunity would be used against them in the trials. Attorneys for North who is to be tried first have appealed for a delay of his trial from its scheduled Start on sept. 20 until March 1989. Peace proposals to be presented during Shultz visit to latin America no . Temperatures the stateside temperatures were unavailable for this edition. European weather forecast for sunday the Benelux and Northern through southwestern Germany will be Cloudy with scattered rain showers Ana thunderstorms becoming partly Cloudy with isolated rain showers by evening. Southeast Ern Germany will be partly Cloudy becoming Cloudy with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms by afternoon. Strong winds and Hail May occur with thunderstorms. High temperatures 74-82 in the North 82-91 in the South lows 58-67. Sunset sunday 9 20. Sunrise monday 5 44.outlook for monday partly Cloudy with Patchy morning and nighttime fog with afternoon Haze and increasing cloudiness in coastal areas in the afternoon. Highs 70-79. Lows 50-56. Temperatures recorded saturday 4am 4pm 4am 4pmadana, p 79 91 Copenhagen r 63 68 Amsterdam c 64 79 Frankfurt a 4 88athens, p 79 91 London r 66 70 Aviano p 0 91 Madrid p 75 93berlin, p 68 86 Munich p 66 88 Brem maven p 63 75 Paris r 8 82brussels, c 68 79 Rome f 72 93 provided by Del 13,2nd weather Wing Graben Trarbach. Other worldwide temperatures Washington a Secretary of state George Shultz will travel to four Cen trial american and five South american countries during a 10-Day tour starting aug. 1, the state department said Friday. A highlight of the trip is expected to Bethe release of a statement of a Central american peace plan agreed upon by four regional foreign ministers with whom Shultz will meet in Guatemala City on aug. 1, a state department official said. The statement would outline a series of Steps the four ministers from Guatemala Al Salvador Honduras and Costa Rica agree Are needed to achieve peace in the Region. Shultz would give his endorsement of the statement said the official insisting on trip comes at the time when the administration is supporting a new Ai package for the nicaraguan rebels who oppose the leftist sandinista govern ment. Although a tenuous cease fire re Mains in place the peace process essentially has broken Down with the sandinista and the contras holding each other responsible. The . Special envoy for Centra America Morris Busby has been in Guatemala since wednesday to Lay the groundwork for Shultz s visit. After visiting Guatemala Shultz will travel to Argentina Uruguay Brazil and Bolivia to discuss such issues As democratic development economic problems and the need for cooperation in combating drug smuggling state department Deputy spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said. From Bolivia Shultz will return to Central America for visits to Costa Rica Al Salvador and Honduras for additional discussions on the peace process with the respective presidents of those countries. Shultz will visit All three countries on aug. 9, which is two Days after the first anniversary of the signing of the Central America peace agreement authored by Costa rican president Oscar Arias. Shultz is expected to use the occasion to reaffirm his View that the sandinista government has not lived up to the promises made under the agreement to bring peace and democracy to Nicaragua. On aug. 10, Shultz will travel to Ecuador for the inauguration of the presi Dent elect Rodrigo Borja. Chutis fined for jumping off building Cairo Dublin c Helsinki Jerusalem f Lisbon f High low95 75 Montreal c 66 57 Moscow. C73 Oslo. C 64 Toronto c66 Vancouver e High low82 61 88 84 82 8472 52�8 supplied by the associated of fair a partly Cloudy a rain. Denver a a judge fined flamboyant parachutist $200 for jump ing off a 43-Story skyscraper last fall but suspended a 30-Day jail sentence on condition that he make no More jumps this year. But Robin Heid 34, who defended himself threatened to make More jumps saying that if he did not go to jail in the next year i would not be doing my Job As a citizen. And you can quote me Denver county court judge Brian Campbell sentenced Heid on Friday after a six person jury convicted him of reckless endangerment a guess we set a precedent against jumping off buildings.1 said prosecutor Henry Cooper. I Don t know How much weight a county jury s decision , whose first trial ended in a Hung jury wore to court the same pinstripes it he wore last sept. 18, when he did a 1.5-second free fall from the top of the1999 Broadway building and then parachuted to a Landing on a sidewalk 530 feet was All a part of a publicity stunt to sell his b9ok. Two dozen of his sky div ing buddies were waiting for him at a Book signing told jurors Heid thumbs his nose at the Law As shown in 1979, whence saluted Yosemite National Park rang ers while leaping off the 2,200-foot Elca Pitan. I was very polite Heid said. I told them have a Nice Day and then i
