PM announces additional gov't funding for hospitals
NIS 500 million reform will add 1,400 beds to Israeli hospitals, create jobs for doctors and nurses, focus on periphery.
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced in Sunday's cabinet meeting that the government will fund additional hospital beds."We will decide on an additional 1,000 hospital beds, an addition of 300 beds in the hospital that will be built in Ashdod and an additional 100 beds in psychiatric hospitals," Netanyahu said. "These are genuine needs that have not been dealt with for a decade and we are going to deal with it now, in the framework of a plan that will be spread over five years."RELATED:Hospitals remove beds from corridors after nurses protestThe prime minister added that the hospital beds "come with job slots for doctors, nurses and medical students...finally resolving a problem that is choking healthcare in Israel." The reform will also focus on funding additional equipment for medical centers in the periphery.Netanyahu estimated that the move will cost the government NIS 500 million."Today, we are taking care of the sick," he said, thanking Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for their efforts.