Walter Reed to be closed

As Walter Reed Hospital comes into the limelight because of the tasteless anti-war protests there, the news that the facility is to be closed had been somewhat ignored. Coming as part of a larger cross-services restructuring, the services offered by the facility will be moved to the National Naval Medical Centre at Bethesda. The expanded centre will be known as Walter Reed. The rationale behind the closing is-

The commission said care at Walter Reed, which has treated presidents and foreign leaders as well as veterans and soldiers, is considered first-rate but the facility is showing its age.
"Kids coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, all of them in harm's way, deserve to come back to 21st century medical care," said commission Chairman Anthony Principi. "It needs to be modernized."