Some 1,600 patients at nine New Orleans-area hospitals hit hard by Hurricane Katrina are awaiting evacuation, health care officials said Wednesday.


Another 8,600 hospital staffers and their families, along with healthy people who sought refuge in the hospitals during Katrina, also are awaiting help, said spokeswoman Coletta Barrett of the Louisiana Hospital Association.
Fuel for generators is lacking, food and medecine are in short supply.