With the start of the Alon headquarters' activity to cut off the contagion chains, and alongside working with Arab society and the ultra-Orthodox public, Nachman Ash will be required to lead and monitor the continued gradual withdrawal from quarantine.
Prof. Ash, Alon Headquarters and Enforcement of Government Guidelines in Jerusalem
Photography:
Oren Cohen, Oren Ben Hakon, Yossi Zeliger
The main challenge for the incoming corona commissioner, Prof. Nachman Ash, will be not the corona, but the politicians, according to a source in the health system.
Prof. Ash will be required to lead the further stages of exit from the current quarantine, and according to some of the pessimistic forecasts he may announce further restrictions with the rise in morbidity in the winter.
Archive // Photo: Gil Kramer, IDF Spokesman
In the coming week, the Home Front Command's Alon headquarters is expected to start operating in full, and Prof. Ash will have to accompany its operation to ensure that the plans for rapid and efficient amputation of adhesive chains are implemented and that the number of tests increases to 100,000.
The new corona commissioner will be required to work with the Arab desk and the ultra-Orthodox desk set up by his predecessor, Prof. Roni Gamzo.
It will have to lead to local restrictions in localities that will turn red and later lead to the implementation of the traffic light plan when morbidity decreases.
Another interesting challenge he may face is the home hospitalization program for Corona patients.
Prof. Ash is considered a comfortable person, one who does not get into conflicts and sees them as a way to achieve results.
According to his acquaintances, he tends to listen to the various voices and decide not according to the popularity index but according to what is required in the situation before him.
At the same time, he was often under fire - real - during his service as a military doctor.
The combination of these qualities may help him withstand the attacks of ministers in the Corona Cabinet, and when political decisions threaten Kerem in the professional outline he will present.
"The challenge is great and the work is a lot"
Earlier tonight (Tuesday), Prof. Ash referred to his appointment in place of Prof. Gamzo.
In a series of tweets on Twitter, Prof. Ash referred to the announcement of the appointment, which is expected to take effect in early November, and thanked the greetings and wishes that have been in contact with him since his appointment was announced this morning.
"What a crazy day. A minute after I found out I was agreed to the job and the message went out to the media, a tsunami of phone calls and messages began," Ash began, "Thank you to all who greet and wish good luck.
Wow.
What a crazy day.
A minute after I learned that I had been agreed to the position and the message went out to the media, a tsunami of telephone calls and messages began.
Thank you to all who wish and wish you good luck.
The challenge is great and the craft is multiple.
Sorry for all those who asked me to be interviewed - I want to study things in depth and formulate insights before I make statements .... / 2
- נחמן אש (@nachmanash) October 27, 2020
Ash went on to explain that he chose not to give media messages at this stage, and apologized to the journalists who rejected at this stage.
"Sorry for all those who asked me to be interviewed - I want to learn things in depth and formulate insights before I make statements," he said, "I know I must succeed for all of us and therefore each and every one of you's contribution is important. Mask, distance, hygiene are all basic principles "Although the task requires a lot of investment, I will try to keep in touch, but I will probably tweet less. Let us be healthy!", He concluded.
I know I must succeed for all of us and therefore the contribution of each and every one of you to the effort is important.
Mask, distance, hygiene as basic principles we must all adhere to.
Although the task requires a lot of investment, I will try to keep in touch but I will probably tweet less ...
that we will be healthy!
- נחמן אש (@nachmanash) October 27, 2020
As you may recall, this morning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced the appointment of Ash, in place of Gamzo, who is resigning.
Prof. Ash will begin research into the overlap process and is expected to officially take up the post on November 13th.
Prof. Ash's name was raised by Gamzo who actually promoted him to the position.
In his personality he is very different from Gamzo's dominant personality and is expected to bring a different character to the role of supervisor.
He is also considered close to the director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levy, and served as deputy chief of staff when Levy was chief medical officer.
Ash, 59, married to Dr. Shifra Ash and the father of three children, was until recently head of the health division of the Maccabi Health Fund, and is an associate professor in the Department of Health Systems Management at Ariel University in Samaria.
Prof. Ash served from 1989-1991 as a physician in the General Staff Reconnaissance Regiment. He then specialized in internal medicine at Sheba Medical Center. In 1992, he was selected to participate as a force physician in Operation Sheikh Etad, and took part in modeling the operation for the Second Tze'el disaster. To the scene of the accident and was the first doctor to treat the wounded of the patrol.
From 1994 to 1995, Ash served as the Chief Medical Officer of the Judea and Samaria Division. In 1997, he completed his specialization in internal medicine and was elected head of the medical department at the headquarters of the Chief Medical Officer.
In 1999 he went to study in the United States, where two years later he received a master's degree in medical computing from a combined program of Harvard and MIT universities in Boston.
Upon his return to Israel, he was appointed Medical Commander of the Southern Command.
From 2011-2007 he served as Chief Medical Officer, and served in his role among other things in Operation Cast Lead.