Defense Ministry spent almost NIS 4 billion on corona in 2020

This out of some 12.5 billion spent by the Department of Production and Procurement throughout the year.

By UDI SHAHAM
Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz seen during a visit on the Israel-Lebanon border, Northern Israel, on November 17, 2020. (photo credit: DAVID COHEN/FLASH 90)
Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benny Gantz seen during a visit on the Israel-Lebanon border, Northern Israel, on November 17, 2020.
(photo credit: DAVID COHEN/FLASH 90)
The Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that throughout 2020, it spent NIS 3.9 billion on corona-related equipment and treatment.
This out of some NIS 12.5b. spent by the Department of Production and Procurement throughout the year.
The DOPP said that since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, it placed 23,400 orders which assisted in conducting some 3.5 million corona tests in four advanced labs it set up; some 13 million corona test kits; 230 million N95 masks; 929 million gloves; 6,531 ventilators and 480 thousand beds for corona patients and people required to be in quarantine across dozens of “coronavirus hotels.”
The department also set up nine assembly lines to produce corona-related products, “most of them in areas considered national priority areas,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Two lines were for producing simple masks, two for N95 masks and five for corona tests products such as swabs and tubes.
The ministry added that it has recently signed a contract to produce five million robes for medical staff, which will be produced in factories in four cities: Kiryat Gat, Shlomi, Hurfeish and Barkan.
Also in 2020, the ministry was in charge of bringing 23 cargo planes that brought essential medical equipment into the country.
Following the report, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the DOPP proved in the previous year how essential it is during crises.
“While the IDF and the entire security establishment are in the field – in local authorities, in hospitals, and in the vaccine operations – the people of the DOPP provided, and are still providing whatever the people on the ground need so that they could set up more corona departments,” he said.
“They brought more ventilators and masks, they multiplied the number of tests by 12 and they saved us millions of shekels while saving lives,” he said. “I am proud of this department, which works around the clock and carries out every mission so Israel would have all the means to fight the virus.”