Health officials reveal that affidavit for Teddy Sagi was just the tip of the iceberg in the friction between office heads and deputy chief of staff Itamar Grotto • The office would call the senior's communicated mistakes "Itamar had flunked him" • Senior official: "It's important to remember that Grotto did not act in a vacuum"

• Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, Itamar Grotto // Photo: Yehuda

Health system officials believe approval of Teddy Sagi was just the tip of the murky relationship in the health ministry's upper echelons throughout the Corona crisis and taking the opportunity of incoming minister and chief executive to begin their post without deputy chief executive Prof. Itamar Grotto, who also offered himself the position of CEO " To but refuses.

During the Corona crisis, Professor Grotto was at the forefront of the crisis management. Although he was not in the front of the press conferences, where Prof. Sigal Sadecki and Moshe Bar were a good sign, he was one of the most prominent interviewees in the media.

Behind the scenes, it turned out that he had been removed from some of the meetings and many times made statements that were subsequently hidden by the CEO, such as when he approved the opening of the train.

Throughout the crisis management, he is reminded of many glitches, once every few days, which the firm has nicknamed "Itamar Flake". This was the case when he told reporters that he thought it was a good option to close groceries and hand out battle rations to civilians, his insistence that patients without symptoms were not contagious, and also to start with basketball teams.

However, the health system and the ministry agree that the public action taken against Grotto is disproportionate. We also noted that throughout the crisis, senior officials at the Health Ministry received dozens of inquiries and questions from the public daily and that Grotto may have erred in deciding to answer independently, but throughout the crisis he was known as a "problem solver".

Senior Health Ministry official: "Itamar is a good man. Really good man but every two days" Itamar flames him "as we call it in the office. Every two days he has some malfunction or statement not in place. I'm not sure I fully understand why. Maybe because he is a man Some naive and people exploit his innocence, maybe because he is looking for sympathy and communication.We talked to some office executives about what happened and concluded that he stands for "presumption of stupidity" not because he is not a smart person but in the sense that he does not always fully understand the social situation. Excellent and great epidemiologist But when you are front and the media about you and the rich are turning to you - easy to get confused. His current role as Deputy CEO is one rank above his capabilities. Politics and the front did no good to him. The timing of this whole event fell from the sky to my chest (Levi the new CEO) and July, who do not want him in the post of CEO. In my opinion to Moshe (good sign) it is no longer relevant.



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It is estimated that incoming minister Edelstein sees every case as a leadership test and because he was also not impressed with Grotto, he jumped at the chance and released a statement stating "this is a serious violation of public trust and serious error of discretion" and instructed the office's CEO Moshe Bar a good sign.

According to the senior, all office workers received public inquiries during the Corona "Everyone receives dozens of inquiries a day but there is a bias in favor of those in power. The speed of returning to a senior manager is different. It's bigger than you. And here it was a matter of visibility. Lashi Shalmon or refer him to the existing procedure. "

Another senior health official said: "It is important to remember that Grotto did not operate in a vacuum, but in the atmosphere of Minister Litzman who constantly encouraged the public hearing. The proportionality test did no harm to public health, no person became ill and no harm to human life. What can not be said about Other decisions of the Department of Health during the Corona crisis such as the treatment of nursing homes and a severe closure that led to economic damage. "

The state comptroller's report published in 2018 revealed another facet of Grotto's personality, when it emerged that under the pressure of Minister Litzman and his assistant Motti Bakchik, he acted in favor of the cigarette companies and the professionals' opinions on two occasions. One when he refrained from selling tax-exempt cigarettes at the airport near Eilat

And when it approved relief to Aikos regarding advertising and tax exemption. During the Litzman period, Prof. Grotto was selected for the post of Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, after serving as Head of Public Health Services for 9 years.