Prof. Yehuda Hiss, longtime director of the controversial L. Greenberg
Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir, is retiring after decades in the
post.
In addition, the ministry’s medical administration will take charge
of the institute instead of Tzrifin’s Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, which was
given overall responsibility for it following scandals and allegations when
controlled by Hiss.
The institute, whose pathologists conduct autopsies
of bodies in unnatural deaths and identifies victims of catastrophes, terrorism
or other violence, has been the the center of much negative publicity in recent
years.
Hiss, who was long regarded as “irreplaceable,” has been accused
in the media and elsewhere of allegedly saving body parts and tissue that
should have been buried.
Following criticism by Deputy Health Minister
Ya’acov Litzman about the way the institute has been run, the decision was made
to end Hiss’s tenure at his retirement age of 67. In addition, ministry
director-general Prof. Ronni Gamzu and experts in the ministry decided to
reorganize and make other changes at Abu Kabir.
After the ministry’s
medical administration takes control, the institute will be run as a separate
unit, Gamzu said. The much-delayed decision was supposed to have been announced
months ago. Hiss will be replaced by a professional chosen by a Health Ministry
public tender.
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