PA ministers to visit al-Quds hospital in budget crisis

A public information officer of the Palestinian ministry of health confirmed Monday that minister Jawad Awwad and minister of finance Shukri Bishara would visit al-Maqasid Hospital Tuesday. Omar al-Nasr added that the ministry had been following up with the financial crisis and the protests by employees in the central East al-Quds (Jerusalem) hospital.

The al-Maqasid Hospital, on the Mount of Olives, is the main recipient of patients referred by the PA ministry of health from the West Bank, al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.

The hospital has been suffering from a crippling financial crisis in the past few years. The administration and the employees’ union say the crisis emerged because the PA doesn’t pay regularly on behalf of hundreds of patients referred by its ministry from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Al-Nasr highlighted that the ministry transferred in February and March 6,129,000 shekels to the hospital. More money will be transferred, he added, when the government transfers it to the ministry’s budget.