This week in Jerusalem: For your health

A weekly round-up of city affairs.

JANUARY 12, 2024 06:43

Updated: JANUARY 12, 2024 15:39

Herzog Medical Center in Jerusalem (Illustrative) (photo credit: HERZOG MEDICAL CENTER) — Herzog Medical Center in Jerusalem (Illustrative)

(photo credit: HERZOG MEDICAL CENTER)

For your health

An expansion plan for Herzog Medical Center, promoted by the district committee, includes increasing the number of beds from 350 to 1,200 and adding four new buildings.

After years of consultations and deliberations, the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee decided to finally approve the plan to expand the hospital, located in Givat Shaul. The plan proposes expanding the area of the hospital, as well as strengthening the existing buildings.

Four new buildings would increase the number of beds. These include a six-story continuous hospitalization building; a three-story psychiatry building; a ten-story in-patient building; and an administration and research building. The plan also envisions a conference center, a shopping area, an expansive underground parking lot, and upgraded lanes for vehicles and pedestrians.

The plan, an initiative of Herzog Medical Center’s Women’s Aid, is intended to advance the hospital’s development in various fields, such as hospitalization, treatment, and geriatric and psychiatric services, which would benefit the Jerusalem population and the surrounding communities.

Meanwhile, six months ago the Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved a plan to establish a public hospital in Beit Shemesh. The facility, with 770 beds, will provide medical care to Beit Shemesh’s 360,000 residents, as well as those in the Mate Yehuda region.

Passengers wearing face masks at the Tel Aviv University Railway Station on December 8, 2020 (credit: YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90)

Fatalities on the city’s roads

There was an increase in serious road accidents in 2023, according to the National Road Safety Authority, with 11 fatal accidents in Jerusalem, a 38% increase compared to 2022.

In 2023, some 358 people were killed in road accidents in the entire country, a relatively small national increase compared to the 351 deaths a year earlier.

At the municipality, the local safety committee, which oversees traffic issues, has indicated that the number of casualties and property damage could have been reduced if there had been improvements in infrastructure and signage.

According to the director of the Jerusalem region of the National Road Safety Authority, the road safety budget in the country dropped from NIS 44 million in 2010 to about NIS 12 million today. In 2023, the Jerusalem Municipality received NIS 552,000 from the municipal safety headquarters. In addition to this budget, the Road Safety Authority transferred NIS 590,000 to the Jerusalem Municipality to deal with safety failures near educational institutions.

Train travel improvements

The new railway cars that will operate on the high-speed line from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv have begun to arrive in the country. They will include more comfortable seats, wider tables, a special carriage for bicycles, and more charging sockets and electrical connections.

According to Israel Railways, the new cars will improve the travel experience by operating longer and more spacious trains, with 12 cars equipped with 1,300 seats. The electric cars, called DDEMU, are manufactured by the Siemens company of Germany. In 2024, a total of 216 advanced new cars will be added.

Facts and consequences

For the past three years, Amjad Shami has been the director of the east Jerusalem transportation division at the Jerusalem Municipality, while hiding the fact that he had served a prison sentence for his sermons as an imam at an Old City mosque. Upon learning of the charges and his subsequent three-month prison sentence, the municipality terminated Shami’s employment.

In October 2017, an indictment was filed against Shami at the city’s Magistrate’s Court for threats that could violate the public peace. The indictment said that Shami “is a Muslim cleric who serves as the imam of the Muslim prayers. On July 21, 2017, in an Old City mosque, Shami delivered a sermon before about 200 worshipers and said: ‘God, save us from the Jews, the Druze, and the Christians so that their wives will become widows and their children orphans,’” according to the charges filed against him.

The indictment also stated that the defendant threatened the policemen there.

Shami began working at the municipality in June 2020 but never informed his employers about the prison sentence, saying that he had no criminal or security history and that he has never been investigated.

When the municipality received the information from the Israel Police confirming Shami’s criminal record, it terminated his employment in accordance with the provisions of the law. ■