Starting Sunday, public hospitals will no longer accept patients brought in by ambulance unless their lives are in immediate danger, the hospitals announced Saturday.
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The hospitals reported a dire lack of resources that has resulted in equipment shortages and the inability to pay suppliers, as well as meet ongoing operating expenses.
Officials from hospitals Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Laniado Hospital in Netanya, Mayanei HaYeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak, and three hospitals in Nazareth met with Finance Ministry representatives on Thursday to negotiate budget raises, but the meeting yielded no results.
After ministry representatives refused to continue the negotiations, hospital officials called upon Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz to get involved in the matter as soon as possible and resolve the negotiations.
Health Ministry Director General Professor Hezi Levi condemned the hospitals' decision, saying that it did "not comply with Health Ministry procedures" and that patient care would continue as usual, alongside continued effort to regulate budget needs.
"I am aware of the budgetary difficulties you are experiencing," Levi said. "The Health Minister and I are dealing with the problem thoroughly [together] with the Finance Ministry. We will not accept a situation in which patients are used as means in a negotiation."
Hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers protested on Thursday outside the Finance Ministry and the prime minister's home in Jerusalem as a result of the situation in their hospitals.
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