In the family organizations, we organized together with nursing home operators, in order to pressure the government • One of their requirements: Appointment of an external project

First publication: Families' organizations of nursing home residents will cooperate with nursing home operators with the aim of pressuring the government to implement the national "Maternal and Maternity Shelter" program.

Step by step - thousands of parcels have been distributed to the elderly // Photo: IDF Spokesman

Yesterday, Israel Today announced that Dr. Vered Ezra's head of the medical department will replace Ichilov's hospital manager Prof. Roni Gamzu in nursing homes. And the operators have decided to form a coalition that will require the prime minister's intervention in appointing an external project as Prof. Gamzo's replacement, alongside allocating resources and imparting powers to implement the plan. The coalition has joined the LGBT family organizations and the sheltered housing association.

These are the coalition's demands: the cancellation of a headquarters appointment from the Ministry of Health and the immediate appointment of an external director, the budgeting of institutions properly and in accordance with the crisis costs, the immediate issuance of licenses for foreign workers to treat the elderly as a solution to the shortage of 6,000 employees in the sector, taking responsibility for all populations of people With disabilities and satisfying their needs, and providing instruction on continuing to employ the Home Front Command as a supporting body for headquarters missions.

More on:

• Dr. Vered Ezra will replace Professor Gamzo in nursing home care

• Who will take responsibility for nursing homes? The Ministry of Health has canceled the special projector role

• Litzman appointed Ronnie Gamzo to lead the nursing home

To date, 106 residents of the nursing home have died in Corona - almost half of them have died. The goal of the "Ancestral and Maternal Shield" program, whose implementation is required by family organizations, is to "safeguard national resilience and protect the elderly and disabled population living in out-of-home settings while providing optimal national vision in the face of the spread of COVID19", as Written on the Ministry of Health website. During April, Ichilov Hospital Director Prof. Ronnie Gamzo was appointed Project Program Manager.

Yesterday, Israel Today announced that the appointment of Dr. Vered Ezra, head of the medical division of the Ministry of Health for a projector's office on the issue of nursing homes, was announced. 

Yesterday, Israel Today announced that Dr. Itamar Ofer, CEO of Sabra Medicine, will not replace Prof. Gamzo as a projector for nursing homes and it was not clear whether he would be replaced.

Dr. Ofer told "Israel Today": "I was not looking for jobs, I was asked to enlist, and I think it is a national mission, so I said 'yes'. Called the Ministry of Health yesterday and said it was canceled. Why? Ask them. I continue in my position as CEO of Backlog Medicine. " Prof. Gamzo, who is also the director of the Ichilov Hospital, announced last week that he would be leaving soon and that he had arrived for a limited period.

As mentioned, due to the severe crisis in nursing homes, Prof. Gamzo has been appointed to the post by outgoing Minister of Health Jacob Litzman, who recently announced that he wants to leave for the position of Minister of Construction and Housing. About two weeks ago, Professor Gamzo presented his conclusions, arguing, among other things, that "one central headquarters for crisis management" must be established. So far, of the 229 deceased in Israel, over 70 have come from nursing homes and sheltered housing.

The Health Ministry said yesterday that a number of applicants had been tested and even started a procedure with one, but that did not help.