The directors of Hadassah Public Hospitals, Shaare Zedek, Laniado, Maayan Hayeshua, The English, French and the Holy Family, This morning (Wednesday) a protest demonstration was held in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Jerusalem.
According to principals, their institutions are on the verge of economic collapse due to budgetary discrimination compared to government hospitals. In light of this, in a week the public hospitals in the country are expected to switch to emergency mode and no non-urgent treatments will be given.
According to Laniado CEO Nadav Chen, “Public hospitals have been starving and deprived for many years. The health care system sees us as a stepson of the system, an excess that can be starved, silenced and swept under the rug. We managed to move forward despite the famine, but the corona plague devoured our last cards. At the height of the third wave we have nowhere to pay our suppliers, Shulmanim. “Our emergency stock has dropped below the red line,” he said.
Shaare Zedek Medical Center Director, Prof. Ofer Marin: “We are going to fight with great distress. I never thought I would have to talk about money and resources. Instead of caring for the sick we should come day after day begging the Ministry of Finance for budgets. We opened 2021 with the tongue out. The seven hospitals that are here cannot finish the month. If the situation does not change, we will see empty beds next Wednesday. “
Hadassah CEO Prof. Zeev Rothstein: “We reached a line that has not been red for a long time, we crossed it a long time ago. How can it be that the State of Israel is at war, and the soldiers at the front, teams, are sent to battle without resources? We have no ability to pay them at the end of the month. “This situation is not perceived. It’s just a bad dream. Hadassah is flooded with patients, as of this morning it is treating 140 Corona patients, and I have nowhere to pay my employees. This saga must stop.”
The director of the Holy Family Hospital in Nazareth, Dr. Ibrahim Harbji: “We have no more income. HMOs are suffocating us and the Ministry of Finance is not helping. It is impossible to wage war without ammunition. “The Prime Minister, the Ministers of Finance and Health – help us, we are unable to breathe anymore.”
The director of the English Hospital in Nazareth, Prof. Fahed Hakim: “The word shame is not big enough to express what is happening here. May the Minister of Finance be ashamed, you suffocated us. I am ashamed to be the director of a hospital in Israel today. I have no way to pay my antibiotic suppliers today. “Aware of the situation, they agree with us, but do nothing. We just demand equality.”