Hospital opens hotline after surgeon gets AIDS

Following an announcement that one of its senior surgeons had been diagnosed with AIDS, Hacarmel Hospital in Haifa has opened a hotline to provide information for patients who underwent heart surgery between the years 1997 and 2000. The surgeon, whose name has not been released, worked at four hospitals in Israel, and reported his condition to the Health Ministry. The ministry has advised his patients to undergo an HIV test. The hotline (04-825-0029) operates between 8:00 a.m. and 3 p.m.