NY meeting aims to end Hadassah row

Falchuk and Mor-Yosef to try to resolve dispute surrounding latter's future.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
mor-yosef (photo credit: Judy Siegel)
mor-yosef
(photo credit: Judy Siegel)
Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America President Nancy Falchuk and Hadassah Medical Organization Director-General Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef are to meet in New York on Thursday to try to resolve the dispute surrounding his future.
The HWZOA’s decision in January not to extend Mor-Yosef’s tenure beyond December 2010 has aroused fierce opposition among HMO staffers, and four of the HMO board’s five Israeli members have resigned in protest.
Falchuk, who initiated the January vote not to extend Mor-Yosef’s tenure, last week invited him to her office to resolve the issue.
Before leaving Jerusalem, Mor-Yosef issued a statement saying: “I am looking forward to meeting with [Falchuk], hoping to resolve the disagreements between HWZOA and HMO. One thing stands above any dispute – Hadassah has been for the last [98] years an ardent Zionist organization that has made untold contributions to Israel and the Jewish People. I was sorry to read some of the recent publications in the media [with] references of a personal nature and hope that the meeting ... will bring us all together to continue our shared desire – to provide the best medical care to the people of Jerusalem, Israel, and the region.”
Falchuk commented on Wednesday: “HWZOA shares with Prof. Mor-Yosef an unwavering commitment to HMO and a determination to move forward. We look forward to a frank discussion and a decision on how to resolve this issue in everyone’s best interest.”
The committee of HMO physicians issued a statement on Wednesday demanding that Mor-Yosef continue in his post for another full, five-year term beyond the 10 years he will have served by the end of 2010. The committee heads said it was their hope that the meeting would lead to a turning point in the approach of the women’s organization and its president.
They called for a full term even though Mor-Yosef has said publiclythat he wants to serve only until the end of 2012 so he can completethe work involved in the opening of the monumental 14-floorhospitalization tower on the Jerusalem-Ein Kerem campus.
The tower, which will house all the medical center’s inpatientfacilities, is being paid for by major donations from the Davidsonfamily and others obtained via HWZOA.
The committee noted Mor-Yosef’s “outstanding achievements” and“uncompromising commitment” as “testimony” that “he is the right personto continue to actualize the hospital’s ongoing momentum.”