
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993                   TAG: 9311170060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BILL STRENGTHENS VA HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN

The House approved a bill Tuesday requiring the Veterans Affairs Department to add new health care services for women veterans, including treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and sexual trauma counseling.

The bill, passed by voice vote and sent to the Senate, also expands other programs, such as mammography tests and Pap smears, that must be offered to women as basic health care services.

Women vets in the past have shunned the VA's 171 medical centers because of the lack of programs specifically dealing with women's health care and complaints of a lack of privacy and of insensitivity to women patients. - Associated Press

by CNB