Safed hospital demands rocket protection - just like Knesset

Friends of Ziv Hospital in Safed plan to petition the High Court of Justice gov't failure to protect.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
kassam sderot 298.88 (photo credit: AP)
kassam sderot 298.88
(photo credit: AP)
The Friends Association of Ziv Hospital in Safed plans to petition the High Court of Justice against the failure of the government to fortify its roof against missiles and rockets, Friends Association chairman Meir Moskovich said Sunday. The Knesset recently decided to spend millions of shekels on strengthening its roof against the same threat. The Health Ministry's program for fortifying hospitals in the North does not include Ziv, a state hospital, even though it was hit by rockets during the Second War in Lebanon last summer, Moskovich said. It also doesn't include plans for preparing underground space for hospital services or protected areas for intensive care units or operating theaters, he said. "This is a scandal, after this hospital treated 800 soldiers - more than Rambam Medical Center and Western Galilee Government Hospital in Nahariya combined - during the war, and is within range of fire," Moskovich said. "The government has abandoned its responsibility for protecting Ziv Hospital." The Knesset "worries about its own security in Jerusalem and will spend NIS 6 million to fortify the roof over the plenum, but the medical center that takes in soldiers from the North and Galilee residents has to go without," he said. According to Ziv director-general Dr. Oscar Embon: "We went without protection in the last war, and apparently we will have to do so in the next war as well."