Meeting to prevent nurses strike on Monday finishes without conclusion

A planned discussion between the Finance Ministry and nurses union dealt with "the severe shortages and impossible loads placed on the shoulders of nurses."

A NURSE WEARS a mask in the Coronavirus Unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. (photo credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)
A NURSE WEARS a mask in the Coronavirus Unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
(photo credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)
A meeting intended to prevent the planned emergency strike by all nurses starting on Monday morning finished without a conclusion being reached, Israeli media announced Sunday afternoon.
The meeting took place on Sunday at without Finance Ministry between director-general Keren Terner Eyal and other ministry officials and chairwoman of the nurses' union Ilana Cohen.
According to an announcement by the union, the discussion dealt with "the severe shortages and impossible loads placed on the shoulders of nurses." With this, they clarified that preparations for the strike are ongoing.
According to Cohen, "the Finance Ministry had a full year to end the nurses' crisis. If they would place human life at the top of the order of priorities, act responsibly and assign the hundreds of standards required for nurses in hospitals, the community and public health, we would have arrived prepared and ready to deal with the epidemic, including the epidemiological investigation system. In the Finance Ministry, they must change their view and immediately stop the abandonment of the nurses, the abandonment of the health of the treating staff and the abandonment of the patients - Israeli citizens."
Meanwhile, in light of the continuing rise in the infection rates of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the trend of opening departments dedicated to the treatment of corona patients in most hospitals is also continuing, the latest one being in Bnei Tzion [Medical Center].
Director-General of the Bnei Tzion Medical Center, Dr. Ohad Hochman, explained: "We are preparing for the reopening of the ward for moderate to severe patients - and within it intensive care stations, maternity rooms, an operating room and dialysis units. In the first stage, the ward will include about 30 beds and in the future will include 55 beds. Additionally, we are operating a screening designed for coronavirus patients, and those suspected of being infected with coronavirus. At the medical center there is a lab that does coronavirus tests. All these are fully isolated from the other wards at the hospital." He stressed that he "calls on the public to follow the regulations of the Health Ministry and especially to keep physical distance. This will help medical teams to provide optimal medical treatment."