TEL AVIV (JTA) — The interim board chairman of Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem resigned.
Avi Balashnikov stepped down over the weekend, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, because Health Minister Yael German had failed to find a permanent replacement by an agreed-upon deadline. Moti Debi, a member of the board of directors, also resigned.
The resignations are the latest development in an ongoing budget crisis at the Hadassah Medical Organization that began early this year.
The hospital declared bankruptcy in February and, after weathering an employees’ strike, finalized a bailout deal with the Israeli government and the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, which built and partially funds the hospital.
Since the crisis began, the hospital has been forced to search for a new director general, as well as a new chair of the board of directors. The hospital is still struggling financially and saw eight of its doctors quit in recent weeks, Haaretz reported.
Israel’s Health Ministry earlier this month ordered the hospital to stop organ transplants for a month due to the continued dispute between doctors and hospital management.
