12 Elul 5777
4 September 2017
The News on the Israel Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
“Rock” and Molotov attacks took place at Givat Assaf, Azariya, Silwan, Hizma, Road 443, and Hevron among other places. A soldier was wounded at Deir Abu Meshaal early this morning. He was evacuated to a nearby hospital in “moderate” condition.
The strange new infrastructure budget . . .
Yesterday, the government unveiled a “grand” new 116 billion shekel infrastructure budget. The budget which encourages foreign investment will build new highways, railways, and desalination plants in 147 projects to be built by 2021.
So far so good.
But here is the geographical breakdown: 58% to central Israel; 22% to northern Israel; 10% to southern Israel; 9% to Jerusalem; and 1% to Judea and Samaria.
Let me give you one reason why this budget is severely out of whack.
This morning your humble servant was driving in south central Israel from Ashdod to Nes Ziona. This is a 30 km drive which should take about 20 or 25 minutes. The roads are wonderfully laid out and are in spectacular condition.
It took one hour and 45 minutes to arrive at our destination because of stop and go traffic all the way.
One hour and 45 minutes to go 30 km.
The problem here is not infrastructure. There are too many people living in central Israel, and there are just too many cars on the road. Way too many cars.
Building more highways will solve nothing. As the population of Israel surges, the situation is only going to worsen.
How is it possible that northern and especially southern Israel are virtually neglected in the budget? Don’t we want more people to move to the periphery?
Apparently not.
And how is it that virtually no money is designated for Judea and Samaria where the roads are narrow and dangerous (and by the way, where there is a severe water shortage)?
This is a budget designed to keep people in the center of the country. It will solve none of the severe demographic problems facing the country.
TODAY’S BLOG:
A Case Study In Incompetence: My Day At An Israeli Hospital Yesterday
Yesterday, your humble servant had the misfortune to spend some twelve hours at Assaf Harofeh Hospital, a huge medical complex that serves Rishon LeZion and its outlying suburbs. I was there looking after my mother-in-law who had fallen while getting out of a car.
The fall took place in Rehovot which has its own hospital, Kaplan. But when MADA came to pick “Ruth” up and transport her (with my father-in-law) to the hospital, the paramedics told them that Kaplan was “full”, and she would have to be taken to Assaf Harofeh.
Here’s how the day went.
This is why the health benefits of tantric massage cialis online pill provide a great way for people to feel better without causing any harmful side effects. This kind of protective effects can be buying viagra on line minimized by increasing the intake of water. Moments of physical contact and sexual intimacy are the basic reasons levitra vs cialis for impotence. sildenafil 10mg Safed Musli offers effective cure for impotence.
1. The ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9 am, and “Ruth” was immediately wheel-chaired into the “internal medicine” section.
2. She was promptly taken in for an x-ray.
3. After the x-ray, she was taken to a waiting “room” on a corridor with 10 other waiting “rooms.”
4. At 10 am, your humble servant and wife arrived.
5. From 10 am-11 am, nothing transpired. No nurses came to check her, and no doctors. The flimsily curtained rooms housed (from what I could see and hear): several older men suffering from pneumonia or severe congestion (is it any wonder that an estimated 6000 Israelis died last year from infections that got in the hospital?); several people who had been wounded in accidents; several women who had problems I couldn’t determine. Suffice it to say that there was much moaning, yelling out in pain, and coughing.
6. At about 11:30 am, a nurse came around to say that the x ray that had been taken when she arrived was unusable because the x-ray technician neglected to take her out of the wheelchair.
7. From 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, nothing happened, except that the corridor became more packed with patients, families, “learning” interns, etc–all coming and going as they pleased (there are virtually no controls at Israeli hospitals–anybody can wander in and out of anywhere).
8. At about 1 pm, a young uniformed soldier was brought in on a stabilization board with a neck brace. It turned that he had been walking across a street when he was hit by a truck and run over by a car. No one came to check on him.
9. At 2 pm, an unsmiling nurse showed up to our corner of the corridor and said she was ready to take “Ilya” to be x-rayed. We told her that the patient was “Ruth”, not Ilya; without saying a word, she left.
10. At about 3 pm, another unsmiling technician came and took her to get another x-ray; she then returned to the corridor. The soldier was still screaming in the next “room” that he had to get off the stabilization board. My wife tried numerous times, unsuccessfully, to get someone to come look at him.
11. At 5:30 pm, after our repeatedly asking about the results of the x-ray, an unsmiling 20-something doctor finally showed up and said he was ready to discuss “Ruth’s” x-ray. After a minute or two, he and we realized that he was talking about a different “Ruth.” He left without a word of explanation.
12. At 6:15, another unsmiling doctor showed up with the right x-ray. It turned out that she had a broken left arm at the shoulder and a fractured pelvis. In a two-minute summary, the doctor said that there was nothing to do except to let the injuries to heal by themselves. He prescribed a pain reliever and was on his way.
13. At 6:30 pm, a nurse came in and said that she was ready to be discharged as soon as she had a blood test. We had no idea why she had to have a blood test, but a nurse soon came and drew blood.
14. Then, we had to wait for the blood test results. When the results had not come by 7:30 pm, we asked why. We were told “Have patience.”
15. Now we were taken to the front lobby, where everyone who had been in the corridor was also waiting for their blood test result.
16. At 9:00, there was still no blood test result.
17. Finally at about 9:30 pm, the blood test result came–and we were told we could leave. There was no help getting out of the door, and no help in getting “Ruthie” into a taxi (it took 30 minutes).
It is simply amazing that we live here in a country known for being on edge of medical science and making medical breakthroughs every day, and the story of Israeli hospitals in one of utter incompetence.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.