Daycare (illustrative)
Daycare (illustrative)iStock

Labor and Welfare Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) ordered the Director-General of his ministry and the professional staff in the Daycare Department of the Labor and Welfare Ministry to work to open seven daycares in hospitals in order to provide a solution for medical staff who are parents of children up to three years of age.

The daycares will operate in hospitals around the country, including Hadassah Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, Hillel Yaffe in Hadera, Rambam in Haifa, Ichilov in Tel Aviv, Assaf Harofeh in Be'er Ya'akov, Soroka in Be'er Sheva, and Barzilai in Ashkelon.

Each daycare will have three or four groups of children, which according to the Health Ministry guidelines will number no more than ten people: eight children and two caregivers.

The daycares will be offered to single or married parents who qualify as "essential workers" in hospitals and who have children aged appropriately for the daycares. The daycares will be operated by professional staff who operate daycares in normal times, and who work for two organizations which run daycares: WIZO, and Na'amat. The centers will be considered government-supervised, allowing the parents to receive both supervised care and a government subsidy as allowed by law.

Hours of operation and payments will be as usual, and the daycares will be required to meet the appropriate standards, including for education and treatment, nutrition, safety, and more. Preparations have been underway for the past few days, and it is expected that the daycares will open over the course of the coming week.