Hadassah hospital recovery plan calls for cuts, bailout
Published May 11, 2014
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The court-appointed trustees managing Jerusalem’s bankrupt Hadassah Medical Organization have submitted a recovery plan calling for $869 million in additional funding and cuts to the hospital’s services.
The plan, presented Sunday, would draw the funds in equal shares from the Israeli government and the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, which owns the hospital. Under the plan, Hadassah would lay off 30 doctors and researchers, as well as hundreds of employees, according to Haaretz. The hospital would also close several departments and restructure its board.
The hospital is saddled with nearly $370 million in debt and an annual deficit exceeding $85 million.
Hadassah declared bankruptcy in February after two large Israeli banks cut off its credit lines. The Jerusalem District Court gave the hospital a 90-day stay of protection from creditors, after which the medical organization will be restructured or liquidated.
The court must approve the recovery plan, and an assembly of Hadassah’s employees and creditors will vote on it Tuesday.
Leonid Eidelman, chairman of the Israel Medical Association, which represents Hadassah’s doctors, said that the association could not approve the plan in its current form.
Eidelman called on the trustees to “alter the agreement by Tuesday and bridge over the gaps so the IMA can recommend that the doctors vote for it,” according to the Jerusalem Post. “We have only a few precious days for improvements to be made that would prevent the dismantling of this vital and exquisite institution called Hadassah.”
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