State budget cuts could mean permanent scaling back on key programs at local health departments across Maryland, according to this story in today's Sun.
Pregnancy clinics, programs to treat chronic diseases and even food inspections could be weakened, local health department chiefs warn.
The General Assembly is likely to pass a spending plan that allots just $37 million for state health departments -- the same amount they got back in 1997. In recent years, state funding to departments was $73 million.
Those big cuts come at a time when public health departments are already struggling, say officials.
Decreased funding hurts more than just the poor, the story explains. In Howard County, the next round of cuts will hurt food inspections, meaning two reviews a year of restaurants instead of the state-required three, said Dr. Peter Beilenson, county health officer.
Howard's health department has lost 25 percent of its staff in the past two years, eliminated a maternity clinic that served up to 400 pregnant women a year, cut dental care and reduced and privatized AIDS services.
It's a familiar story playing out among cash-strapped states across the nation.