In a shocking and unprecedented secret agreement, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett demanded that hospitals commit to refraining from reporting or warning the media about hospital insufficiency regarding the treatment of coronavirus and other patients in critical condition, regardless of the true situation in hospitals and the level of patient care, Yisrael Hayom reported on Thursday.

The report comes as senior health officials predict 5,000 coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization within weeks, with many officials slamming the government for its inadequate response to the situation and callous view of “inevitable” deaths from the pandemic.  Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash even warned the government that “coronavirus patients could die on the streets.”

The secret agreement between the government, the Health Ministry, and the hospitals demands hospital directors’ silence and even deceit in exchange for the government’s commitment to provide them with hundreds of additional doctors, nurses, and other medical staffers.

The report was based on talks with five senior directors of major hospitals, some of whom were personally involved in the agreement.

Additionally, a senior Health Ministry official revealed another unprecedented and shocking government demand “to lower the standards of medical care in order to be able to report that it’s possible to meet the needs of coronavirus patients and avoid entering a lockdown.”

“These agreements are immoral and illegal and possibly fraud of the public, who won’t be receiving information on the true and very dismal situation of the level of care of seriously ill patients,” one hospital director told Yisrael Hayom. “The government can continue to avoid making decisions on additional restrictions while simultaneously buying the quiet of hospital directors – no matter what price the patients will pay.”

Yisrael Hayom also discovered that on Tuesday, hospital directors warned that the situation in hospitals is already very serious. “Hospitals are at their peak capacity,” a hospital director said. “The number of seriously ill patients surges every day. Seriously ill patients wait for hours in ambulances outside the emergency room due to overcrowding and there’s no longer any room to reduce the internal wards.”

“There’s a very steep rise of hospitalizations in recent days,” another hospital director said. “They’re trying to hide it from the public.”

“One-third of intensive care beds are already occupied by coronavirus patients and the situation is very difficult regarding the occupancy rates in internal medicine wards. I wouldn’t want my family members to be treated like this.”

“The medical system is being thrown to the wolves,” another director said. “It’s all due to the heavy and aggressive pressure Bennett is placing on Prof. Ash.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)