“I call from here to the Israeli government, those who head it and the ministers of finance and health: intervene in this crisis now. The hospital heads need the budgetary issues resolved, allowing their teams to deal with the patients.”

President Rivlin to the heads of the hospitals:

“You are on the battlefield in the war on corona. You are commanding battalions and brigades. Get back to the front! Get back to the hospitals, the wards, to your patients. We need you. You have to focus right now on the war on corona. You fight at the front, and the government will supply the ammunition. There is no other way. We cannot win this battle without you. We are relying on you.”

“You and those like you are our health heroes, Guardians of Israel. We cannot allow our public hospitals to collapse. We cannot allow #coronavirus to defeat our hospitals. The budgetary discrepancy must be resolved.”

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Director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center Prof. Ofer Marin:

“There are seven hospitals whose budget runs out every month. We aren’t paying suppliers, there’s no money for salaries. It’s in the hands of the minister of finance. We have a simple request – distribute the money equally, but they are transferring billions to the government hospitals.”

Medical Director of the EMMS Nazareth Hospital, Dr. Fahad Hakim:

“We are here on behalf of our staffs, who are looking the virus straight in the eye. We are soldiers without ammunition in a war that is a genuine war.”

President of Israel Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin today, Monday 18 January / 5 Shvat, met heads of public hospitals across the country after their announcement that they face economic collapse because of lack of budgets and their move to working under emergency conditions from this Wednesday. The heads of the seven public hospitals are asking for their budgets to be altered by the Ministry of Finance so that they are in line with the government hospitals.

The hospital heads taking part in the conversation were Prof. Ze’ev Rotstein of Hadassa, Prof. Ofer Marin of Shaare Zedek, Shlomo Rothschild of Ma’aynei Hayeshua, Dr. Fahed Hakim of EMMS Nazareth, Nadav Hen of Laniado and Dr. Nail Elias of the Saint-Louis French Hospital.

Director-General of Hadassah Hospital Prof. Ze’ev Rotstein explained the complexity of the budget as he sees it. “Historically, the state received a gift – public hospitals that it had not established and does not own, but treats them ungratefully because they have no ‘parents’. It owns the government hospitals, those belonging to the HMOs, the kupot holim, and they are taken care of by the state and the HMOs, but we are orphans. When we get into economic difficulties because of this emergency, we have to ask for donations, whereas the government hospitals get payments from the state. It’s absurd.”

Director-General of Shaare Zedek Prof. Ofer Marin added, “We are struggling to survive. As we face both regular patients and corona, we are collapsing. There are seven hospitals whose budget runs out every month. We aren’t paying suppliers, there’s no money for salaries. It’s in the hands of the minister of finance. We have a simple request – distribute the money equally, but they are transferring billions to the government hospitals. Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health figures show that these seven hospitals are run extremely well, but they are still punishing us.”

Medical Director of the EMMS Nazareth Hospital Dr. Fahad Hakim said, “We have got to the stage of threatening to move to emergency cover only, because we have tried everything, everything. We can’t pay wages, we have no medical equipment, we have no milk and the syringes are empty. We have devoted staffs who are working five times the normal amount during this emergency. 40% of my beds are taken by corona patients, but there are other emergency cases as well as corona. We are here on behalf of our staffs, who are looking the virus straight in the eye. We are soldiers without ammunition in a war that is a genuine war. Our soldiers, the medical teams, are not getting what they deserve.”

The president listened to them, and said, “It is sad to meet you like this. For almost a year, we have been meeting at hospitals, in the field, on the front-line of the war against corona. I have seen your hard work with my own eyes, your boundless dedication. You and those like you are our health heroes, Guardians of Israel.

“I want to say this plain and simple: We cannot allow our public hospitals to collapse. We cannot allow #coronavirus to defeat our hospitals. The budgetary discrepancy must be resolved. It must be fundamentally resolved at the level of infrastructure, and at the same time, there needs to be an immediate, emergency response.”

The president called on the government to act immediately, saying “There is no more time to waste. Action needs to be taken now! I call from here to the Israeli government, those who head it and the ministers of finance and health: intervene in this crisis now! The hospital heads need the budgetary issues resolved, allowing their teams to deal with the patients. Everyone must bear the responsibility they hold.”

“For a long time now, ‘so many have owed so much to so few’, to you. This is something that every Israeli would agree with. It is a saying taken, and not by accident, from a time of war. Because this, my dear friends, is without a doubt, a time of war,” the president noted. “I ask of you, the commanders on the front line of the battlefield in the war on corona. You are commanding battalions and brigades. Get back to the front! Get back to the hospitals, the wards, to your patients. We need you. I know that you see yourselves as fighting for the future of your hospitals, for the future of public medicine. That is a just and right war, and I hope that the government has the wisdom to do what is required for you to survive the crisis. That is our most basic obligation. But right now, you have to focus on the war on corona. You fight at the front, and the government will supply the ammunition. There is no other way. We cannot win this battle without you. We are relying on you.”