U.S., five other countries expect late Y2K readiness

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States and at least five other countries do not expect to finish fixing their Year 2000 computer bugs until just weeks before the new year, an international survey reported Thursday.

Two other countries, Slovakia and Bolivia, do not believe they will finish until next year, meaning problems could occur after midnight strikes on New Year's Eve.

Bruce McConnell, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center, said the late completion dates are not necessarily reason to expect catastrophe. Rather, he said, the survey points to areas in which to intensify contingency planning.

Y2K readiness is of greatest concern in developed countries such as the United States because they are the most dependent on information technology, Y2K planners say.

Many computers were originally programmed to recognize only the last two digits of the year, so some might not be able to differentiate between 2000 and 1900. Unless they are reprogrammed in time, computers could malfunction.

The United States listed a December completion date for computers in the health care industry. Health care has been particularly troublesome because doctors, hospitals and payment systems are so decentralized.

``The health sector is the one that everyone is further behind in, so it's not surprising that the U.S. is also getting finished in health later,'' McConnell said. ``I think it's a cause for action, a cause for more attention to be given to making sure the health sector is ready.''

U.S. health care industry leaders have insisted that they will be ready for Jan. 1, although a recent congressional study said that assurances from industry groups have been based on surveys that may be unreliable because of low response rates.

Other countries not expected to finish until December are: Pakistan and Macedonia, for air transportation; Bulgaria, for health; Bolivia, for government services; Colombia, for customs, and Angola, for sea and land transportation, customs and health.

Bolivia also would not be ready with its customs systems until the new year, while Slovakia does not expect to complete its health systems this year.

The International Y2K Cooperation Center, a clearinghouse set up by the United Nations and the World Bank, received responses from 72 of 195 countries. The completion dates were self-reported by the national Y2K coordinator of each country. Completion was defined as implementing 90 percent of the fixes.

``No country in the world will get all of the systems fixed by January 1, but for those with lots of systems left to be fixed, it heightens the importance of knowing what they are going to do to continue delivery of essential services,'' McConnell said.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), August 26, 1999

Answers

What's wrong UN? Are you not getting the spin or is something getting lost in the translation?

Mike

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-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), August 26, 1999.

http://www2.iy2kcc.org/SectorStatus/Default.cfm?WhichRegion=NA

-- Brenda Looney (blooney@aol.com), August 26, 1999.

Y2K CANNOT BE FIXED!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), August 26, 1999.

yep jack is 100% correct

-- Ron (mongo@earthling.net), August 27, 1999.

1) The US is leading...

2) The US won't get it all done...

3) Ergo: World wide...a 9 or better...

4) QED

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 27, 1999.