The Hadassah Medical Organization’s 850 physicians, 2,000 nurses and 1,000
paramedical and support staff – along with much of the country’s medical system
– expressed shock on Tuesday following an announcement that the organization’s
director- general, Prof. Ehud Kokia, was resigning after only 14 months in
office.
The joint announcement from the Hadassah Women’s Zionist
Organization of America (HWZOA) and the HMO, which it owns and financially
supports, did not provide any clear explanation for the former Maccabi Health
Services director-general’s sudden decision to leave. But unnamed sources said
it was the result of financial disputes between Kokia and the HWZOA’s
leadership, which said in meetings with Kokia in New York and Jerusalem that it
would provide only $19 million annually in “balance grants” and that he must
take immediate efficiency measures to cut the medical organization’s NIS 200
million-plus deficit by NIS 100m. Kokia felt it was impossible to make such a
commitment, according to the sources.
With Sha’are Zedek Medical Center’s
recent takeover of the bankrupt Bikur Cholim Hospital, Kupat Holim Meuhedet’s
purchase of the Misgav Ladach OB/GYN hospital over a decade ago for outpatient
treatment only, and now the HMO’s serious financial situation, only Sha’are
Zedek is in a robust state.
Kokia’s resignation – which, according to
sources, was his decision alone and not a dismissal – comes only a few months
after the HWZOA’s 100th birthday in Jerusalem and its official opening of the
$360m. new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Hospitalization Tower in Ein
Kerem.
Kokia’s predecessor, Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef – who is now
director-general of the National Insurance Institute – was forced out after 11
years by then-national HWZOA president Nancy Falchuk.
The 63-year-old
Kokia is leaving in three months. During that period, an international company
with an Israeli branch, which Hadassah has hired, will set up a search committee
to chose a replacement and recommend ways to reduce its financial troubles (for
a reported fee of several million dollars).
The HWZOA instructed Kokia
not to make any comments to the press about his announcement, and the New
York-based organization also declined to comment.
However, the outgoing
director-general did send an email message to all HMO staffers, in which he
praised them and the famed medical institution. Still, he said that “after a
number of months, it became clear to me and my management team that the deficit
in cash flow was greater than reported to me when I started my position, and
that the situation reflects a larger operational budget deficit that has gone on
for several years.”
In the joint statement, the HWZOA and HMO called on
the government to provide financial help to ease the process of financial
recovery.
But the Health Ministry spokeswoman did not answer The
Jerusalem Post’s request for comment on the resignation and financial
support.
Kokia’s statement implied criticism of Mor-Yosef, who declined
to comment, but Hadassah insiders said the latter was not at fault. One
suggested that the HWZOA was making unfair demands on Kokia – and on Mor-Yosef –
and had cut its contributions to the HMO.
Hadassah veterans said Kokia
had been warned before he left Maccabi about HMO’s precarious financial
situation, but that he had not thought it was so serious.