Public hospitals will work on a weekend format, beginning Wednesday morning.
According to the hospitals, the change is due to their inability to treat their patients, following the Health and Finance Ministries' failure to keep their signed agreements, and the lack of budget.
The hospitals in question are both Hadassah hospitals, Shaare Zedek, Mayanei Hayeshua, Laniado, and the French, English, and Italian hospitals in Nazareth.
In an interview with Galei Zahal, Hadassah Director General Professor Yoram Weiss said, "We don't have the ability to pay our suppliers, and we cannot continue to fully treat patients. It is the responsibility of the government to find a long-term solution and to help us out, once and for all."
In a Tuesday notice to the Health Minister and Magen David Adom (MDA) the hospitals' directors wrote: "We hereby inform you that due to the structural deficit forced on us by the State, and due to the failure to keep the agreements with the public hospitals, seven hospitals are not able to fully function and provide appropriate care for the patients, due to a lack of budget."
"In light of this, the seven hospitals will move to a weekend format, only providing life-saving care. MDA evacuations which are not life and death emergencies will not be admitted and should be transferred to other hospitals."
Signing the letter were Mayanei Hayeshua Director General Shlomo Rothschild; Shaare Zedek Director General Professor Ofer Marin; Hadassah Director General Professor Yoram Weiss; Laniado Director General Nadav Chen; Director General of the "French" hospital, St. Vincent De Paul, Dr. Nael Elias; EMMS Hospital Director General Professor Fahed Hakim; and Director General of the Holy Family Hospital, Dr. Ibrahim Kharbaji.
"Negotiations were not opened with us, no one speaks to us," the directors added. "We cannot pay our suppliers with the understanding and sympathy for our problems. We demand to immediately begin direct negotiations to solve the crisis. This evening, the Prime Minister is flying, and leaving us to fight coronavirus with empty magazines and no bullets. We expect him to intervene in this crisis."