One year after the original amendment to the Religious Services law that adversely impacted the income of private ambulance companies in Israel, who among other things, deal with transporting deceased persons to the morgue, a new amendment came out allowing the private companies to charge adequate prices for this service.

“We have saved many of the private ambulance companies from collapse,” said CEO of United Ambulance Services in Israel, Ephraim Feldman.

The original amendment to the law was made a year ago to safeguard the family members of recently deceased people so that they would not have to pay the bill for a private ambulance to transport their deceased loved one. Bituach Leumi, then left the issue to the Burial Societies (Chevra Kadisha) to hire the private ambulance companies as service providers, paying them a very nominal set fee. While the Chevra Kadisha received 1,100 NIS for the service, they offered the private ambulance companies only 200 NIS of the amount for their service.

The Private ambulance companies, for whom this service makes up a large portion of their income, as Magen David Adom has a policy to not transport deceased persons, were severely affected by this new arrangement.

After meeting with the heads of Bituach Leumi and the Director of the Ministry for Religious Services and others, Feldman, with the help of others connected to the problem, was able to garner a compromise and get the Chevra Kadisha’s to agree to give the private ambulances 870 NIS from the 1,100 which they collect. “This is a huge achievement for us and will prevent many private ambulance companies from going out of service,” Feldman said.

“I am very pleased that we were able to help the private ambulance companies without having to charge private citizens in at the sad times that are already fraught with tragedy,” Feldman added.

(YWN Israel Deski – Jerusalem)