Heinrich, Leger Fernández ask key U.S. health official to visit struggling Gallup Indian Medical Center

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández have invited a top federal health official to visit the Gallup Indian Medical Center after Trump administration policies led toreduced careat the facility.
In a letter dated Aug. 13, Heinrich and Leger Fernández extended the invitation to Mark Cruz, a tribal citizen of the Klamath Tribes and a senior adviser to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on American Indian health.
“While in Gallup, you can hear firsthand from local leaders, patients, health care providers, Tribal officials, and community members about the situation at the hospital,” the letter states. “And you can see how bureaucratic red tape is limiting access to essential health care services in this community.”
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond when asked byThe New Mexicanwhether Cruz plans to accept the invitation.
Gallup Indian Medical Center, an Indian Health Service hospital, limited general surgeries to patients in immediate need of care, halved the beds available in its surgical units and restricted birth services in its Women’s Health Unit following an executive order signed Feb. 26 by President Donald Trump.
The order, part of an initiative by the Department of Government Efficiency, created a bottleneck at the hospital by imposing an extra layer of oversight on contracts for equipment and services, as well as clinical staff, which many Indian Health Service hospitals rely on for patient care.
“The new policy has dramatically and dangerously slowed down care at GIMC and brought some essential services to a halt entirely,” Heinrich and Leger Fernández wrote.
Representatives from the Indian Health Service did not respond toThe New Mexican’slatest request for comment on the disruptions at the Gallup center, nor did they answer questions about whether the issues have been resolved or if they extend to other Indian Health Service facilities in New Mexico.
The Indian Health Service still does not have a permanent leader, despite Kennedy asserting his commitment to tribal health care.
In a video announcing Cruz’s swearing-in in June, Kennedy said it was important to him “to have a Native American as part of [his] direct inner circle” in making federal health care decisions.
Heinrich and Leger Fernández’s letter is the latest in a series of advocacy efforts regarding Gallup Indian Medical Center and the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, which provides care to nearly 250,000 people.
The 25th Navajo Nation Council’s Law and Order Committee met with Cruz in June to address gaps in access to health care. Cruz “expressed support for reforms” to the Indian Health Service, the committee announced in a news release.
Leger Fernández and Heinrich, as well as U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, also penned a letter to Kennedy and Indian Health Service Acting Director Benjamin Smith in July, calling on them to reverse decisions that limited services at Gallup Indian Medical Center.
“The current situation is unacceptable,” the letter stated. “Tribal communities deserve the same standard of care and operational efficiency afforded to all Americans. HHS and IHS must act swiftly to reverse these harmful decisions, restore critical services, and fulfill the obligations that the United States has pledged to uphold.”