Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service is under fire after an ambulance took over 45 minutes to arrive at the home of the Zakaika family in Jerusalem’s Jabil Mukhaber neighborhood when responding to a call for an unconscious person.
The investigation showed that the ambulance was at the entrance to the neighborhood in a matter of minutes but waited for over 40 minutes for the police escort to arrive. MDA ambulances are instructed to wait for police to escort vehicles into Arab areas, the result of concerns for the safety of the crew. In this case, police were negligent in dispatching a vehicle to rendezvous with the ambulance in a timely fashion.
The family of the victim is angry; questioning why when it comes to an Arab area of the capital police must be involved, explaining police regularly take their time to respond to meet an ambulance. The Zakaika family feels they are victims of discrimination and question the ethics of the MDA policy.
Mr. Zakaika adds that his home is located before the Jewish community of Nof Tzion, which is inside Jabil Mukhaber. He explains if the Jews from this community summon an ambulance it will drive past his home to get there. He feels if they can drive past his home to service the neighboring Jews without a police escort, they can also stop at his home without a police escort if his family summons an ambulance.
The escort policy for ambulance crews has been in place for many years, beginning with the so-called Intifada, the Arab uprising.
Israel Radio quotes MDA’s response, explaining the EMS organization treats all in need without regard to race, religion or creed but in cases that present a threat to the safety of ambulance crews, ambulance crews are compelled to involved police for their own safety and the reality is that in certain areas, ambulances are attacked with rocks and there is a safety issue.
MDA states the rules are set by Israel Police, not MDA. Israel Police stated this is not true and it has not given any directive to MDA regarding the need for an escort.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
It serves the Arabs right, for being such animals. If they weren’t always killing people, the MDA might not be so afraid to come to their neighborhoods.
“The family of the victim is angry; questioning why when it comes to an Arab area (U SURE U DON’T KNOW) of the capital police must be involved,
Arab family should fix the terror problem & assaults that are rampart in their neighborhoods when an ISRAEL/JEWISH auto is involved. I would never want a family member of mine to go there without police escort.