Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened the cabinet in Eilat on Sunday in order to approve a NIS 400 million development plan for the city and the adjacent Eilot region. The development plan is set to launch in 2020 and continue until 2023.

The plan comes shortly after the decision to close down the Sde Dov Airport in Tel Aviv last June. It was thought by many that the closure of the airport will cause a significant drop in tourism as it makes it harder for people from the center of the country to visit the southernmost point. Among other things affected by the closure is the health system in Eilat which depended heavily on doctors and patients being able to travel to and from the city quickly.

According to an article that appeared in Globes magazine, the plan was based on budgets that have bee diverted from government ministries. The development focuses on the fields of health, tourism, maritime agriculture, maritime biotechnology, and business.

PM Netanyahu: "With great vision, we have advanced from the wilderness and created a beautiful city. Today, we are going to take a very great step and jumpstart it into the future. We we are moving forward with a plan worth over NIS 500 million for immediate development." pic.twitter.com/laBt6SpUH2

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 4, 2019

The plan to revamp the health system in Eilat is needed primarily because of the lack of doctors and medical staff in the city. Doctors were often flown to Eilat weekly for years via Sde Dov Airport.

The shortage of staff and services has been exacerbated now that flying through Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport (located 20 minutes north of Eilat) takes more time. The city is sorely lacking specialists in the following fields: Gynecology, pediatrics, radiology, child development, psychiatry, cardiology, dermatology, internal medicine, and intensive care doctors.

As a result of the shortage, the length of lines for doctors and medical services in the city are liable to be double or more in comparison with the central region. The plan to boost medical services in Eilat amounts to NIS 150 million, NIS 50 million more than originally approved.

As revealed by “Globes,” the plan includes grants of up to NIS 1 million for five years for doctors moving to Eilat

NIS 13 million will be allocated to flying doctors to Eilat with cooperation between the health funds.

NIS 14 million will be allocated for upgrading remote medical services (telemedicine), which can save on flying doctors to the city and flying patients to the central region.

According to the report in Globes, the government will transfer NIS 26 million by 2023 to build a helicopter pad, so that there will be an available helicopter in the city. No such helicopter exists in Eilat at present.  the only helicopter at the disposal of Eilat residents in an emergency, which belongs to Magen David Adom, comes from the Beer Sheva region, and patients must be driven by ambulance to Yotvata in order to reach it, which is liable to exact a heavy price in terms of their health because of the delay.

NIS 1.6 million will be invested in encouraging a home treatment system, with cooperation between the funds, plus NIS 75 million for upgrading infrastructure lacking in Yoseftal, including the  creation of more operating rooms, a dialysis department, a gastroenterology department, a room for treatment of acute cases of sexual assault, a CT scanner, and maternity wards.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)