Seven hospital directors held an urgent joint press conference on Sunday evening at which they announced dramatic steps they were taking in order to address budgetary difficulties.

According to the directors, 300 million shekels that were promised to them by the Finance Ministry have yet to be transferred, even though six months have passed since the Finance Ministry committed itself in writing to the transfer of the funds.

As such, the seven hospitals have decided to operate on an emergency footing from Monday, which will also mean that they will cease accepting coronavirus patients.

Prof. Yoram Weiss, the director of Hadassah hospital, stressed the need for the government to take immediate action. “Our staff have treated thousands of patients, and they are being harmed by the lack of funding,” he said. “The Health Minister and the director-general of the Ministry must come to our aid. The State of Israel has a lot of problems to deal with, but it must provide an immediate solution for the situation in the hospitals, which has reached breaking point.”

נדב חן מנהל בית החולים לניאדו: לא עומדים בהתחייבויות

Nadav Chen, the director of Laniado hospital, said, “We signed on the agreement and everything was absolutely clear – but not a single promise has been kept. Meanwhile, we have done whatever was needed in the current crisis, operating on a war footing – but all the other party to the agreement has done is make bureaucratic problems and provide excuses. We cannot accept any more coronavirus patients now – what do they seriously expect us to do?”

Following the press conference, the directors held a meeting with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and his director-general, Prof. Nachman Ash. Horowitz promised that, “We will find a solution to the problem.”

Prof. Ofer Marin, director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, told media that, “A year and a half, four waves of coronavirus, working day and night, seven days a week, in order to save the State of Israel. In the ‘reddest’ cities of the country. I’m ashamed to be standing here today like a beggar, but the State of Israel has reneged on its agreement with the country’s hospitals – it hasn’t abided by a single clause and now we’re on the verge of collapse. We won’t have the funds to pay our employees before the upcoming festivals, and our patients will not benefit from the best possible treatment. In the current situation, we simply cannot continue treating patients. Our conscience obligates us to cease admitting coronavirus patients, as we simply do not have the means available to do so. If nothing changes, we will begin working on an emergency footing later this week.”

Prof. Marin added that his hospital owed money to the blood bank and has already been forced to withhold treatment from patients due to a lack of vital supplies. “Just as we don’t send soldiers into war without flak jackets, I will not consent to admitting patients without the proper protective equipment for doctors and nurses,” he said, accusing the government of being deaf to the hospitals’ outcry. “We are not here to protest, or to announce a strike, but rather to send a signal of distress,” he said.