Fight for flu funds back this session

Public-health officials and a leading legislator are resuming their lobbying effort to buy thousands of additional hospital beds, breathing machines, and doses of medication to prepare for a global influenza epidemic.

The $36.5 million was first sought 20 months ago by Mitt Romney while he was governor, but his request languished in the Legislature, despite winning the backing of influential legislators such as Senator Richard T. Moore, chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. Moore is championing a revised version of the bill in the current legislative session.

"We've been fortunate, in the sense of not having a serious pandemic anywhere in the world, so the urgency isn't there," Moore said. "There are a lot of things we should be spending money on, to prepare for an earthquake or a hurricane or a blizzard. We've got so many other competing demands for the money that this keeps getting put off."

On their best days, Massachusetts hospitals have barely enough beds and ventilators to handle the regular patient load, and they would be staggered by an onslaught of wheezing, feverish flu patients in a widespread epidemic, known as a pandemic, specialists said.

In his proposal, Romney outlined how many beds, breathing machines, and drugs would be purchased.

John Auerbach, the state's public health commissioner, said yesterday he now believes that it doesn't make sense for the state to buy and store 2,000 ventilators, as Romney proposed. Placing all those machines in warehouses could create a logistical nightmare, he said, and could also make it challenging to maintain them.

Instead, Auerbach said, the pandemic aid should not be "overly prescriptive," and his agency should have greater latitude in deciding how the money will be spent.

Moore's proposal eliminates many of the funding details, although it continues to call on the Department of Public Health to strengthen its bonds with local health agencies.

The latest proposal was recently approved by the Health Care Financing panel and awaits consideration by the Ways and Means Committee, said Moore, adding that he intends to press his case for the $36.5 million plan with Senate President Therese Murray.

"The amount of money might be an issue," Moore said. "But I think we ought to get started, even if it's something less than what we want."

Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com.