Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzchak Halevy used Tuesday�s tragic bus accident near Eilat to once again point out to the national government that the area�s only hospital desperately needs to be upgraded, explaining that the medical facility is not designed to care for a mass causality incident as was seen again on Tuesday.

�It is unfortunate that I must use this tragedy to once again plea my case but for years I have been calling upon the government and healthcare system to address the need to upgrade Yosef-Tal to meet the needs of today,� stated Halevy.

Halevy is seeking for a $10 million allocation for construction and an unspecified sum for medical improvements and increasing the facility�s staff.

Yosef-Tal was established in the 1960s and is owned and operated by the Clalit HMO. The facility has 65 beds and generally, an occupancy rate of about 10%. In actuality, it was slated for closure in the past, but this was avoided due to protests from Eilat�s hoteliers and the city�s mayor, explaining if Yosef-Tal is gone then patients will have to commute three hours to Beersheva�s Soroka Medical Center.

(Yechiel Spira � YWN Israel)�