Senior members of Haemek Hospital protested: "Our neglect - a huge risk" | Israel Today

"Gambling on our lives", "Law Afula as law Tel Aviv", "Ministry of Health take responsibility" and "Health is a basic right" - these are some of the calls written on the signs carried by dozens of protesters on Friday, in protest in Afula against neglect of the Valley Hospital , Serving about one million Israelis in the valleys and the Galilee.

Struggling to improve hospitalization conditions.

Haemek Hospital, Photo: Gil Eliyahu / Ginny

The main demand of the demonstrators was to fulfill the public promise made about a year ago by Clalit's CEO (a promise that the new fund's CEO, Ruth Ralbag, recently returned from), to provide the hospital with all medical services for the sick and injured. Decades of neglect, for example in the intensive care unit, where the conditions of hospitalization are among the worst in the country.

They also demanded the immediate allocation and budgeting of medical and nursing staff, and the establishment of new wards to improve the harsh conditions of hospitalization.

The demonstrations were directed at Clalit Health Fund, the owner of the hospital and the Ministry of Health. The demonstration took place following the ongoing exposure in "Israel Today" about the struggle of the department heads in the valley.

"We are here because of the neglect, discrimination and contempt for the residents of the periphery, which have been going on for decades," said Prof. Doron Koppelman, director of the hospital's surgical department.

"The north is neglected and there is no equality in health, there is no equality in medical service, and life here is, apparently, less equal."

"Northern residents are probably less equal."

Doctors' protest in Bloom Village last March,

Dr. Boaz Bloch, Chairman of the Valley Medical Committee: "It is very exciting that the younger generation has awakened, it gives us strength, optimism and hope. You are the beautiful Land of Israel. There is no logical explanation for the gaps between the periphery and the center, and this struggle is important To all of us. "

Limor Regev, a social activist from Moshav Nahalal, one of the leaders of the struggle among the residents of the area, also spoke to the demonstrators.

"There is no escape from a determined public struggle, and our requests are of what is necessary, obligatory and self-evident as the basis for the rights of every resident," said Regev.

Clalit and Haemek responded: "The hospital is in an unprecedented development boom.

These budget investments, amounting to almost a billion shekels, are already bearing fruit.

We apologize for presenting the issue in a way that does not correspond to reality and does injustice to the hospital's medical excellence, excellence that is also reflected in the national indices, in which the hospital is located in the first places. "

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