NEW YORK — Staffers at the federal World Trade Center Health Program — which has already seen more than a 25% drop in personnel — have been reassigned to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Indian Health Service, advocates for the 9/11 community said.

They are demanding a hearing with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy to discuss concerns about delays and cutbacks at the vital agency.

At least two staffers, including the deputy director of the program, have been temporarily reassigned to ICE and the Indian Health Service, Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., wrote in a letter to Kennedy requesting a “congressional briefing” about how “operational challenges are limiting access to care for responders and survivors.”

The reassignments, LaLota said, “further exacerbate the program staff shortage and harmful wait times for patients.”

“Responders and survivors suffering from cancers and other life-threatening 9/11-related conditions have reported waiting months for appointments and approvals,” LaLota wrote in his March 6 letter, which was co-signed by eight Republican congressmembers in New York and New Jersey and recently released to the media. “These delays can have devastating medical consequences.”

The World Trade Center Health Program approves and covers medical expenses for those suffering from 9/11-related illnesses.

The Daily News reported in January that while the WTC Health Program is budgeted for 120 staffers, it currently has only 84. That leaves 36 vacancies in the agencies, more than 25% of its entire staff.

Other issues congressmembers want to discuss with Kennedy about the WTC Health Program include medical providers working with the health program reporting “delayed or denied reimbursements” and 9/11 survivors being “denied enrollment in the program.”

Those that have been denied “have been waiting more than a year to have their appeals processed.”

The WTC Health Program has also not given any updates on petitions to add more conditions to the list of 9/11 illnesses. The petitions include autoimmune, cardiac and cognitive impairments that more and more 9/11 survivors are suffering from, the letter notes.

Kennedy’s briefing to Congress on the WTC Health Program, LaLota wrote, “would be to open a dialogue on current operational challenges, the steps being taken to address them, and how Congress can continue to support these important efforts.”

The World Trade Center Health Program was created in 2011 as part of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. It initially was supposed to run for five years but was extended until 2090 as more people came down with 9/11 illnesses.

About 140,000 survivors have been enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program. The number of sick 9/11 survivors the group treats is expected to increase by 10,000 this year, advocates say.

Since taking over HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kennedy has authorized drastic cuts to the WTC Health Program personnel, as well as the firing of program head Dr. John Howard, which was reversed last year after lawmakers from both sides of the aisle sounded the alarm.

The rare reversal from the Trump administration saw Kennedy restore two research grants and the jobs of 16 employees. When Kennedy testified before Congress last year and was questioned about his decisions he admitted the firings were “a mistake.”

“The men and women served by the WTC Health Program ran toward danger on September 11th and its aftermath,” LaLota wrote. “As we mark the 25th anniversary this September and celebrate America 250, we have an important opportunity to demonstrate our nation’s commitment to those who served.”

A detailed list of questions sent to HHS regarding the WTC Health Program’s staffing shortages and transfers was not immediately answered.

“The Members of Congress on the right track, wanting to know from Secretary Kennedy about the ‘staffing shortages, treatment delays, appeals backlogs, and provider reimbursement problems’ and asking him to explain how he will resolve these issues,” said Benjamin Chevat, the executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act. “In the year and a month Secretary Kennedy has been running HHS, he has fired, rehired fired rehired WTC program staff and now there are less staff running the program then when he started.”

“As we approach the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, Secretary Kennedy needs to answer for his administration of the program,” Chevat said.

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