After discussion with the relevant authorities, it was decided that the HMOs would stop conducting tests according to new criteria.

• New test guidelines

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  Yossi Zeliger - Archive

The Ministry of Health announced today (Wednesday) new guidelines for HMOs not to conduct corona tests for people who show no symptoms, except in cases where they have been at home with a verified patient or they are defined as a population at risk. It was emphasized that the procedure regarding the other tests remained unchanged.

Regarding people who do not show symptoms, known as 'asymptomatic' patients, tests will be performed in special cases: when it is a person who moves to an institution or frame of a at-risk population such as nursing homes or a nursing home or alternatively in the case of a person who returned to the frame after leaving.

Special tests will also be conducted in places where there is no access to medical institutions or with low access to medical services when there is a concern that there is a high chance of illness such as overcrowded conditions. It also shows that people who are in isolation according to GSS characteristics or after being exposed to a verified patient but show no symptoms - are not required to undergo a test unless they have developed symptoms during the days of isolation. In special cases, tests will only be approved by the district physician.

The document also specifies the amount of daily allocation of the HMOs according to the following division: 2,500 to Clalit HMO, 1,250 to Maccabi HMO, 750 to Meuhedet and 500 to Leumit.

Meanwhile, the Nurses' Federation announced in the afternoon that it will move to work in an emergency format due to a lack of standards during the Corona crisis starting this coming Monday. The statement said the strike had been declared out of "national responsibility, to stop the collapse of the brothers and sisters and save lives."

Histadrut chairman Ilana Cohen wrote: "It seems that in the test of action the Ministry of Finance is not doing enough to make human life and public health a priority, and therefore unfortunately we have no choice but to take organizational measures before having to deal with immoral and inhumane decisions. - To whom to give appropriate treatment and to whom not. The loss of the ability to provide adequate care to the citizens of Israel will cost many lives - and we are not prepared to be part of this conduct. "

"We brothers and sisters have decided to take action and take all legal measures at our disposal to prevent injury and loss of life, to stop the deterioration in the face of the corona and to avoid the expected 'Yom Kippur' of the public health system."

It was also written that the discussions that took place in the past year together with the Ministry of Finance are "lacking in understanding and internalizing the size of the crisis and the burden placed on the system." Another reason for the strike is the increase in cases of violence against the brothers and sisters and the work is being done out of concern for the physical safety of the workers.