The Army removed the commander at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, N.C., and suspended three other officials there, the Times reported, after two people in their 20s died after visiting the hospital’s emergency department within the past two weeks.

The Pentagon said Hagel’s review was unrelated — spurred instead by the parallel reviews inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. VA hospital officials have been accused of using secret waiting lists and other techniques to keep veterans waiting for care — wait times that may have contributed to the deaths of some vets.

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Hagel wants to confirm the Defense Department does not have problems similar to those of the VA, said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby.

“It’s fair to say that he ordered this review within the context of what is going on at the VA. To the degree we have similar issues — and we do not know that we necessarily have them — he wants to understand them and he wants to attack them aggressively,” Kirby said.

Hagel has asked Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Jonathan Woodson to “focus on access to care and an assessment of the safety and quality of health care, both in the military treatment facilities and health care that the department purchases from civilian health care providers,” the Defense Department said.

Hagel plans to meet with Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and the secretaries of the military services on Wednesday “to discuss the parameters of this review and his expectations for it.”

The VA wait scandal has become a political black eye for the Obama administration and has brought heavy pressure on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. Veterans advocates and members of Congress have long complained about dysfunction within the VA, and the scandal has already led to the departure of one high department official — though he had been previously scheduled to retire.

President Barack Obama has sought to play up the importance of veterans’ issues, including health care, mental illness treatment and jobs programs. He praised the post-Sept. 11 generation of veterans again on Tuesday in announcing his decision to leave 9,800 American troops in Afghanistan beyond the end of the year.

“These are mostly young people who did not hesitate to volunteer in a time of war,” Obama said. “And as many of them begin to transition to civilian life, we will keep the promise we make to them and to all veterans, and make sure they get the care and benefits that they have earned and deserve.”

Veterans’ advocates, however, are growing impatient with what they view as the lack of progress in resolving pressing issues such as suicide, employment — and especially health care.

“Over the last few months, as VA whistleblowers step forward in new cities almost every week, it’s become clear that our nation is not doing right by all our veterans,” Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said in a statement. “In the midst of the VA scandal, the president must understand that IAVA members — who we engaged with at Memorial Day events across the country — are outraged and impatient for real action and real reform.”