Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is interested in appointing Prof. Gadi Segal, who serves as director of the internal medicine department at Sheba Hospital, as the head of his medical staff, Kan 11 News reported on Monday.
"The Prime Minister seeks to be in contact with said doctor, as he highly values him and he meets his needs in the field. Should the Prime Minister, God forbid, require medical services and his personal medical details are revealed to the doctor, he therefore he seeks to communicate with Prof. Segal without examining additional proposals," read the minutes of the tenders committee that approved the contract with Prof. Segal.
The minutes further stated that Segal "is an experienced and veteran doctor, with extensive medical experience, currently serves as a department head at Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital and is preferred by the Prime Minister, Mr. Naftali Bennett, to fill the position in light of the special acquaintance and trust between them."
The appointment, which was also approved by the director general of the Ministry of Health, will be valid from the date of the signing of the agreement until the date of the implementation of the rotation agreement with Yair Lapid, or until the end of Bennett's term. The cost of the contract is 2,000 shekels per month, plus VAT.
During the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Segal criticized the government's decision not to impose a lockdown. In an opinion piece published in the Globes newspaper, he wrote, "We are marching into the fire. The entire country, almost 10 million people - are marching as one group into the fire. This is actually the decision made by the government. When it refrained from imposing a lockdown, the decision meant that it was decided to march into the flames and hope that we would be able to get out of the other side intact and healthy. At least the majority. In my opinion, the statement we chose to 'live alongside COVID-19' is inaccurate and may even be misleading."