On Tuesday, Finance Minister Israel Katz signed an agreement with seven public hospitals in the country to allow them to fully function by allocating NIS 630 million to the hospitals by June 2021. A public committee will also be formed to judge the needs of each hospital and the need for improvements.
While Hadassah director-general Zeev Rotstein thanked Katz for signing the agreement and the Accountant General Department's work on the issue, the hospital stressed that the funds needed for March and April still hadn't been arranged.
The hospital warned that, unless funds are arranged immediately, the hospital will need to work in an emergency mode, negatively impacting the level of care it can provide the public.
"Despite the joy over the signed agreement, the cash flow that was supposed to accompany it and allow the hospital to work on a regular basis while maintaining full payment ethics, has not yet been fully implemented," wrote the hospital in a letter to its suppliers. "Hadassah Hospital, as of this moment, is still crowded with patients, including severe coronavirus patients, for whom the expenses are very high, and therefore it is in financial distress."
"We are continuing to do everything together with the accountant-general of the Treasury to arrange the cash flow in such a way that we can pay all our suppliers all the approved accounts on time," added the hospital.
Rotstein forwarded a notice from the hospital's purchasing manager, Shlomi Shimonov, to Health Ministry director-general Chezy Levy in which Shimonov informed the leadership of the hospital that central parts of the medical center would need to stop operating due to the lack of life-saving supplies, including valves for heart surgery, catheters and even gloves.
Shimonov estimated that by Sunday the hospital would run out of gloves.