PC Kills: 11 Hospital Staff Members Contract Tuberculosis from African Illegals
Latest update: August 23rd, 2012
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Ichilov Hospital Director, Professor Gabi Barbash, under attack for profiling tuberculosis patients.
A woman doctor and ten medical staff members at the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv have recently contracted the tuberculosis virus, hospital officials told IDF Radio. The staff members are carriers of the disease, but have not actually become sick; their lives are not in danger and there is no immediate threat to their health.
The 11 staff members who are suffering from the virus have begun receiving treatment and the hospital is clarifying that there is no danger that they are contagious to other people through contact or by being in close proximity to them.
It appears that the staff members contracted the virus from African patients, before new procedures were instituted requiring every illegal alien, usually Africans, entering the hospital to be tested for tuberculosis.
In July a Health Ministry committee decided to examine Ichilov’s procedures for treatment of illegal aliens. The decision came about after Ichilov had opted to establish separate wards for illegal aliens, to ban visitors in rooms where illegal aliens are staying, and to declare that they must all undergo testing for tuberculosis.
Officials in the ministry expressed anger at the hospital’s decision and indicated that the policy should be changed.
“A situation should not exist where a hospital will segregate patients based on skin color; many immigrants have been immunized and they have the status of Israeli residents. We must assess the ramifications (of this procedure),” officials stated.
Various aid organizations also protested the new procedures. The Hotline for Migrant Workers (HMW) sent a letter to the hospital’s director, Professor Gabi Barbash, asking to change the procedures. In a letter written by attorney Assaf Weitzen on behalf of the center, he claimed that the hospital’s director was instituting procedures contrary to the patients’ rights laws.
tell a friendAbout the Author: Tibbi Singer is a veteran contributor to publications such as Israel Shelanu and the US supplement of Yedioth. Invite Tibbi to visit your blog. The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of The Jewish Press
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To be accurate: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis not a virus. Additionally, testing positive for tuberculosis is not the same as getting ill from it.
The first paragraph is inconsistent with the headline. If this site is to be considered serious journalism report news as news and reserve opinions for elsewhere in the publication.
The first paragraph is inconsistent with the headline. If this site is to be considered serious journalism report news as news and reserve opinions for elsewhere in the publication.
I would change the headline.
this is a real substantive issue that should be seriously discussed – rather than the excess about the incident in Zion Square.
Agreed. Can we start by putting someone with a brain who is nota complete racist in charge of the Interior Ministry?
I thought so at first, too. Then I thought "How many people with TB are walking around EVERY DAY infecting others?" The hospital staff may be safe, thank G-d, but what about the citizens at large?