According to the published instructions, every employee in a nursing home must use a surgical mask whenever he is in contact with a patient. • It is also recommended that the nursing homes divide the staffs. • The institutions claim: "We have no equipment - the Ministry of Health closes its eyes."

The Ministry of Health is promulgating guidelines to geriatric hospitals on Sunday how to protect and manage the care of the elderly, after only four deceased and a large number of elderly people with coronary heart disease in nursing homes. Nursing homes say: "We have no protective equipment for workers, no reinforcement for workers who are in isolation and the Ministry of Health is closing their eyes."

Director General of the Ministry of Health with guidelines for elections // Photo: Ministry of Health

Under the new guidelines, every employee of a nursing home must use a surgical mask whenever he is in contact with a patient. It is also recommended that the nursing institutions divide the staffs. As is the case in hospitals, so every time a number of employees work together regularly, during 12-hour shifts, thus avoiding sticking between staff.

After it became clear that a social worker who worked at two seniors' institutions had been infected in Corona and had been infected with both, the Ministry of Health notes that "every employee may work in only one institution." In a document written by Dr. Irit Laxer, the head of the Geriatrics Division also states that visitors are prohibited from visiting the elderly residents and professionals and service providers should be prevented.

Ronnie Ozeri, ABA Chairman (Nursing Home Association and Sheltered Housing), strongly attacked the new guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health for the administrators of geriatric institutions. Among other things, the institutions have been required to use surgical masks on a daily basis, even though only some of the institutions have received equipment so far. Shielding, defined by the Ministry of Health "for emergency use". In addition, the new guidelines state that an employee can no longer be employed in two institutions, and therefore the ABA fears that employees will prefer their work place in hospitals, thus deepening the existing labor shortage in the industry anyway.

Not only that, the Ministry of Health also requires moving beyond two 12-hour shifts, which is impossible in the existing order of power in geriatric institutions. "The Ministry of Health continues to produce guidelines on guidelines, rather than going into the thickness of the beam and producing solutions. There is no connection between the existing reality in the field and the Ministry of Health officials who are sealed to it, or simply close their eyes to it," says Ozeri.

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"The feeling is that the Ministry of Health has decided to leave us alone in the campaign, treating seniors and tenants as a second class, rather than rushing full protective equipment to all staff, corona testing for all staff and occupants, transferring patients to a dedicated geriatric ward, and massively increasing staff instead of staff. In isolation, say the Association of Nursing Homes and Sheltered Housing. "It is time to move foreign workers as an auxiliary force to the industry from other industries where there has been a dramatic decline in work, and to appropriately budget all associated costs to institutions as a result of the Corona crisis - disinfectants, hours of work and more."

At the same time, Dr. Vered Ezra, head of the medical department at the Ministry of Health, today announced that the Ministry of Defense will be involved in the treatment of these institutions. "The Ministry of Defense will assist in the treatment because there are hundreds of institutions deployed throughout the country. You need logistical options. "Regarding the claims made by the Nursing Home Landscape in Jerusalem and the case in Beersheba for a delay in the tenant's examination, she said:" An examination is done based on clinical considerations. There is no point in doing a review. For those who have no symptoms - testing doesn't solve anything. There is no point in doing an ineffective review. "