HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan issued the following statement on President Trump’s order to establish a Presidential Task Force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health System:

“The Department of Health and Human Services welcomes the establishment of President Trump’s Task Force as part of ongoing efforts by HHS and IHS to protect American Indian and Alaska Native children and to investigate and prevent the kind of horrific, unacceptable abuses perpetrated by a former IHS doctor who left the agency in 2016 and is now in federal prison. IHS continues to update its procedures and policies to prevent and stop abuse, which will be assessed by an outside, independent contractor and will be the subject of a separate review by HHS’s Office of Inspector General. Abuse in IHS facilities is appalling, intolerable, and a betrayal of all of the American Indians and Alaska Natives who rely on the IHS for care, as well as to the dedicated IHS employees who provide that care.”

View IHS Principal Deputy Director Michael Weahkee's Statement