WASHINGTON: The Indian Health Service has lost at least $15.8 million worth of equipment and later falsified documents to cover up some of those losses, according to congressional investigators. The 5,000 pieces of lost or stolen equipment included a computer that contained more than 800 Social Security numbers and sensitive health information.

Also missing are trucks, tractors, all-terrain vehicles and about a third of information technology items including computers, video projectors and digital cameras from the agency's headquarters in Rockville, Md. The Government Accountability Office estimated losses between the 2004 and 2007 budget years in a report released. Investigators blamed mismanagement at the top of the embattled agency, which often runs out of money to provide adequate health care to the American Indians it serves.

``IHS management has failed to establish a strong 'tone at the top,' allowing property management problems to continue for more than a decade with little or no improvement or accountability for lost and stolen property and compromise of sensitive personal data,'' investigators wrote. In an official response to the report, Health and Human Services officials agreed with many of the investigators' recommendations to tighten property oversight and regulations. But the officials also disagreed with some of the allegations, saying there were inaccuracies in the investigators' descriptions of some cases.

The department added that the study failed to appreciate that IHS has a unique property management system compared to other agencies because of the collaboration with Indian tribes. -AP