Almost 3,400 civilian healthcare workers at the Defense Department have left their job in the face of furloughs prompted by sequestration, USA Today reported Wednesday.Gregg Zoroya writes most of the departures occurred at Army medical centers and many transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which was exempted from sequester cuts.
Army Surgeon General Patricia Horoho told the newspaper that one in 20 civilian doctors, nurses and medical support staff quit their jobs with the Army.
Horoho believes uncertainty over the duration of furloughs and concerns about downsizing at the Pentagon might have prompted workers to leave, according to the report
The Air Force lost 6 percent of its healthcare employees and the Navy lost 1 percent of its medical staff between late February and mid-August, Zoroya writes.
USA Today reports the Army provides more than half of medical services to active duty personnel, veterans and their families.
Out of 42,000 Army healthcare workers, 2,700 left their positions.
