A threatened suspension of ambulance service in Israel was averted Thursday afternoon when the Finance Ministry agreed to turn over $765,000 to the Magen David Adom to renew its insurance on the vehicles.
The MDA, which operates first-aid clinics, blood banks and other paramedical services in addition to the country’s ambulances, had announced earlier in the day that its ambulance fleet would be idled as of midnight Thursday because it was without funds to pay the insurance premiums due.
The Finance Ministry has frozen some $2 million of MDA funds against tax indebtedness and overdue payments to the National Insurance Institute. And Travenol, which supplies plastic bags for blood plasma storage, has attached MDA’s bank accounts for non-payment of bills.
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