Bone Marrow Specialist Returns to Moscow
Dr. Robert P. Gale, the UCLA bone marrow transplant specialist who treated radiation victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, left Los Angeles on Saturday for his second trip to the Soviet Union.
Speaking at a brief news conference at International Airport before boarding a flight for Moscow, Gale said his first priority would be to care for the 24 critically ill people who have suffered most from radiation.
“We expect a small amount of additional fatalities,” said Gale, adding that 11 people have already died of radiation exposure. Two other persons died at the time of the April 26 nuclear accident. A report from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency on Saturday put the death toll at 17.
In a KABC radio interview Friday, Gale said he was anxious to return to Moscow. Gale flew to Moscow on May 6, and returned home on April 17.
“I very reluctantly returned to the States,” Gale said in the interview. “This is a critical time, and it’s a bit unfair to leave the Soviets with these difficult management problems.”
Gale said it is important that he return quickly to “show them that we were not there just for all of the noise and publicity, but are really there to help them take care of these people, and we will play this song through to the end.”
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