Speaking during Monday's cabinet meeting, Deputy Health Minister Ya'akov Litzman called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz not to cut the Health Ministry's budget, especially the budget allocated to beefing up defenses at hospitals to ensure that they can continue operating during misslile attacks. “The proposal to cut the health budget is irresponsible, and ignores the needs of the public,” he said. “If the budget for protection of hospitals is cut, I will have to remove myself from responsibility for the safety of Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, where work on building an operating room that will be protected from rocket attacks is in progress. Let it be the collective responsibility of the Prime Minister and the other ministers,” Litzman said.
In addition, Litzman spoke out against the Treasury's plans to cut the budget of psychiatric hospitals, calling it an “unacceptable edict.”