Prof. Ofer Marin, the director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, participated in this morning's Health Committee discussions in the Knesset.
"I have been a doctor for 30 years," Marin told committee members, "and now, instead of saving lives, I am being forced to send patients home. The national blood bank is not willing to supply me with any more units of blood without payment in cash, and I have no way of finding the amount needed.
"Any Knesset member - whether from the coalition or the opposition - who votes for the state budget before this issue of funding for public hospitals is solved, should be ashamed of himself," Marin concluded.
Six months ago, the Treasury signed a commitment to transfer 300 million shekels to the country's hospitals, but the money has yet to be paid and now the Treasury is claiming that it cannot in practice transfer the money directly.