Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein today, Sunday, inaugurated with Minister of Defense Benny Gantz the Military Hospital for Corona Patients established at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. During the day, Edelstein is also touring Bnei Zion Hospital and Carmel Hospital in Haifa.
In his remarks, Edelstein praised the fact that the military hospital will be composed of regular army service medical personnel and not reservists, so that they do not come at the expense of the civilian medical staff.
Edelstein then referred to the lockdown exit strategy he would bring to the approval of the Corona Cabinet on Tuesday. In addition, he demanded that the Ministry of Finance provide full compensation, "not pocket change," to all businesses and employees affected by the closure.
"On Tuesday I will present an outline of hope. The beginning of a gradual, safe and responsible exit that has the potential to keep the morbidity low in such a way that the system for cutting off the contagion chain will catch those infected. It is possible to do so provided we are not dragged into populism," he noted.
"Everyone sees the data of a certain decrease in morbidity. But whoever calls for an immediate opening of everything - destroys the economy and the lives of people, of those who have suffered enough. It is impossible to open and within a few weeks bring about another closure."
"When we talk about a gradual exit we say to the same people: we want to ensure that we do not have to close businesses again," the minister explained.
"We as a government must make sure that those business owners and people who have lost a lot, will receive not only pocket change, but real-time full compensation. And I intend to fight for that. There cannot be a situation in which we demand restrictions and then the self-employed and businesses have not received the required compensation. I will not let that situation continue. There is encouraging data. Everything else depends on each of us," Edelstein concluded.