Acting totally irresponsibly, a father with measles visited the preemie ward at Bnei Brak’s Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital on Thursday, January 3, 2019, entering without informing any hospital personnel he has been diagnosed with measles.

When it was learned the father was ill, staff members were quick to vaccinate over 80 babies, some only a day or two old.

According to the Yisrael Hayom newspaper report filed by Ron Reznik and Meital Yasur Beit-Ohr, the hospital decided to vaccinate all of the 24 preemies in the unit along with 60 babies in the adjacent unit. It is explained that since children are usually vaccinated after a year, in this case, due to the circumstances, they were given the regular vaccination and not a prophylactic treatment.

Professor Moti Ravid, director of the hospital, is quoted telling the newspaper, “This is a wild and inconsiderate act, not to mention that the same man endangered his son, along with placing other babies at risk. A guard is posted and so far, we have concentrated mainly on preventing the entry of visiting children. From now on, we will also guard the entry of adults, and we also hung signs around the hospital asking visitors with fever or a rash not to enter the hospital.”

Ravid adds, “Someone who does not feel good should not visit a hospital, or shul and yeshiva for that matter”.

According to Health Ministry data, up until last week, 3,030 cases of measles have been diagnosed in Israel including 502 new cases which were diagnosed in December 2018.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)