Dr. Zev Zelenko, the Hasidic doctor who came to national prominence for treating presumptive COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine, announced on Wednesday that he is leaving his clinic in Monroe, N.Y., near the Hasidic town of Kiryas Joel.
“It’s with a broken heart that I have to say this, but I have decided to leave Monroe after almost two decades of working as a doctor, taking care of the community, most recently with this terrible magefah (plague),” he said in a video addressed to his patients and residents of Kiryat Joel and shared on social media.
“Things have happened, and after speaking to my family and my mashpi’im (religious advisers ) and thinking about what I want for the future, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to move on,” Dr. Zelenko continued.
The announcement comes several days after US President Donald Trump announced that he was taking hydroxychloroquine. In his comments, Trump connected his decision to start taking the drug to a New York doctor, a designation which Dr. Zelenko later claimed for himself, according to The Forward.
In the Wednesday video, Dr. Zelenko said that he wanted to dispel rumors that his decision to leave had anything to do with a disagreement with his current employer, CareStier Health, where he is the medical director.
In signing off, he wished the residents of Kiryas Joel long life, good health, financial success, and that they should all live to see the return of the Messiah.