Senior officials within the health system have expressed their frustration with the current coronavirus project manager, Prof. Salman Zarka, criticizing his management of the crisis, the spike in the number of cases, and his handling of the issue of returnees from Uman after Rosh Hashanah.
The Maariv newspaper quotes one senior official as saying, "This manager is a complicated person, and we're having real difficulty accepting his authority, which he wields very often. There's a lot of tension, and people are feeling it. For one, he and the head of Public Health Services, Sharon Alray-Price, don't see eye-to-eye, and the same holds true with the director-general of the Health Ministry, Prof. Nachman Ash. The net result is that the public has little faith in regulations that change on a regular basis."
In response to the published criticisms, the Health Ministry issued a statement saying: "We have excellent relations with Prof. Zarka, and we work effectively together. His contribution to our management of the epidemic is immense."