Despite the government’s decision on Sunday to transfer about 12.5 million shekels as development budgets to the three Nazareth hospitals, the Nazareth hospital administration announced that it is preparing to launch a general strike, as these budgets are not part of the government’s contribution to filling the existing deficit in the Nazareth hospitals.
The Nazareth English Hospital announced last weekend the closure of the emergency department for the first time in 160 years, following the hospital’s inability to pay the hospital staff’s salaries following a stifling crisis stemming from a lack of budgets transferred to the English hospital. Note that the emergency room in Nazareth Hospital is the only one in the Nazareth area, and serves hundreds of thousands of residents in the largest Arab cities in Israel and the region.
The hospital clarified that the budgets department in the Ministry of Finance deliberately did not attend the scheduled meeting between the hospital administration and the Ministry of Finance, which was held on Sunday evening. “On the other hand, the Minister of Health has tried to mislead the public with ‘development budgets’ that have nothing to do with the struggle we are waging,” he added. These developments lead us to one conclusion: to continue the struggle and to take escalatory measures in the coming days. We will not accept anything less than equality.”
The hospital confirmed, “The only issue that we know is under treatment is related to a previous decision that was taken months ago, and was not implemented at the time, and according to Knesset member Mansour Abbas, it will be presented next Sunday again for approval again, and it has nothing to do with budgets to bridge the deficit, but rather development budgets worth NIS 12.5 million for this year, and NIS 12.5 million for next year for the three hospitals in Nazareth. Although it is a positive step, it will not help to fill the deficit that Nazareth Hospital suffers from as a result of discrimination and budget cuts.”
The Nazareth Hospital stated that the government had retreated from implementing its financial commitments of 30 million shekels within two years. In its message, the hospital stressed that bridging “the gaps in the health and medical system, the gaps in job opportunities, the gaps in educational opportunities, and the gaps in the economy in the Nazareth region is the right of our society. We ask, where are the 15 billion from Plan 922, where are the 55 billion from Plan 550, or will we as a society suffice with empty slogans?”
The hospital asserts that “the issue is not a hospital or institution issue, but rather a community issue. Will we try to rise and stand by each other, in order to improve our living conditions, or will we accept that prejudice and discrimination will continue, and stop our development process?
