Friday, June 2, 2006
Thanks to Cynic in the comments for this link. Must read of the day and a story who's implications it should not be necessary to belabor.
Treppenwitz: Not with a whimper, but a bang
So, the procedure was scheduled to take place at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petach Tikvah.
So far so good, right?
Well, a couple of wrinkles quickly appeared in the plan. First of all, this little girl is not an Israeli citizen and is therefore not covered by the national health plan. By rights she should have been treated in a PA hospital.
What's supposed to happen when a Palestinian ends up in an Israel hospital (such as after a car accident or some other emergent occurrence), is that the care is provided and the bill is then submitted to the PA Ministry of Health for reimbursement...
...The Schneider Medical Center agreed to absorb a large chunk of operation's cost, as did the Peres Center for Peace. Of the $58,000 price tag, Schneider Hospital and the Peres Center each agreed to pay $24,000, while the PA was asked to kick in only $10,000. Not a bad deal considering how the rising cost of rocket components and guns has the Palestinian Authority in a bit of a financial crunch just lately.
So what happened?...
...Anyway, knock me over with a feather... Abu Mazen (Dr. Abbas' nom de guerre) agreed that the PA would pay its share for the operation and forwarded the bill to his Minister of Health, Dr. Bassim Na'im (who actually is an MD).
Well, it seems Dr. Na'im had a bit of a conflict when presented with the bill. You see, in addition to being a physician ('First do no harm'), he's also a member of Hamas ('First, do no good').
Guess which side won this Faustian tug-o-war? You got it... Dr. Na'im refused to write the check for the PA's share of the bone marrow procedure because, "...it would be seen as cooperating with the Zionist enemy."...
Do not fail to read the whole post.
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